High school softball: Riverton, Bingham set for 6A championship rematch after big wins Wednesday

The much-anticipated rematch is set.

Region foes Bingham and Riverton both cruised to easy 6A state tournament wins on Wednesday to advance to championship series at BYU, which will begin on Thursday.

Bingham beat Mountain Ridge 17-0 and Riverton beat Lehi 11-2, both finishing with a perfect 3-0 record at Valley Complex in Taylorsville the past two days.

This will be the third time the region rivals meet in the state championship series in the past five years. For Riverton, it will be its fifth straight year playing in the state championship, with its only loss during that stretch coming to Bingham in 2023.

“We’re so thankful for the opportunity,” said Riverton coach Whitley Haimin. “I know every program doesn’t have what we have so we’re super thankful for the opportunity, but also, these kids have worked hard their whole lives. They deserve it, so we’re also not surprised.”

Riverton trailed Lehi 2-0 early in Wednesday’s game, but after tying the game in the third inning, it broke it wide open with a nine-run fifth inning.

Peyton Sanchez hit one of her two home runs in the big fifth inning, while Maggie Hamblin smashed a three-run dinger.

“Offensively we’re super stacked. State, you never really know what can happen, but I think we are confident that having a nine-run inning is normal for us,” said Haimin.

In Tuesday’s 3-1 win over Lehi, Riverton’s batters struggled against pitcher Abbi Harroun but did enough to get the win anyway.

A day later, those same hitters were more dialed in.

“We made a lot better adjustments compared to yesterday. I feel like we’re finally starting to hit the ball hard and on the ground compared to just had a lot of pop ups yesterday,” said Haimin.

“But I think today we did really good at getting runners on, pushing them over with the bunt and then being able to push them across somehow and then it just kind of was a chain reaction after that.”

Sanchez finished the game going 3 for 4 with two home runs and four RBIs, while Hamblin went 2 for 4 with three RBIs.

Sanchez got the start, but left after 1 2/3 innings as Kaelyn Flynn came on in relief. Flynn shut things down the rest of the game, striking out six and only allowing three hits.

While Riverton was busy smashing four home runs on its field Wednesday afternoon, Bingham belted out five home runs in a dominant win over Mountain Ridge.

Gracelyn Lemke, Brecka Larson, Kava Haiola, Zalia Carrillio and Shyann Banasky accounted for the home runs, with Haiola hitting her first of the season.

“And when that happens, oh my gosh, you know, Kava is on fire. This one’s on fire, this one’s on fire. We’re all on fire,” said Bingham coach Mikki Jackson.

“I think that comes with that chemistry that we were talking about. I think that was a big factor that we’re going to be OK in this game when she hit that one.”

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Haiola’s home run came in a 7-run second inning as Bingham quickly put the game out of reach. It tacked on eight more runs in the fifth inning.

During its three wins at Valley Complex the past two days, Bingham outscored the opposition 39-0 in just 16 total innings.

“The last two days has been big, but the last few weeks the leadership and the mentality has transitioned significantly. I think they’re playing now because they know how fun it is to succeed here, as opposed to the fear of losing,” said Jackson.

Larson earned the win in all three games, striking out six batters on Wednesday. She also went 2 for 4 at the plate with five RBIs.

Banasky went 2 for 3 with four RBIs.

Bingham lost to Riverton twice during region play this year, and lost to Riverton in Game 3 of last year’s state championship series. Despite all that, Jackson expects a great championship series, which gets underway on Thursday at BYU at 4 p.m.

Game 2 is Friday at 11 a.m.

“I think it’s going to be a good series this time,” said Jackson. “I think the kids learned last year that they started to play in fear in those second two games. That’s a different mindset.”