High school softball: Milford wins a pair, surges past Altamont to claim first-ever 1A state championship

From a disastrous first inning to its first softball championship in school history. That about sums up an eventful Saturday for Milford on the final day of the 1A state tournament.

Milford beat Altamont twice at BYU’s Gail Miller Field to capture that elusive title, rallying for a 12-10 win in the first game and then winning convincingly 15-0 in just three innings in the winner-take-all second game.

“It didn’t feel real to be playing on this field and to be playing for a state championship because we’ve never been there before since we are 2A always. It was unreal,” said Milford junior Jaidyn McMullin, who threw a three-inning no hitter to clinch the title.

Milford came into the state tournament as the No. 1 seed, but after losing to Altamont in bracket play the day prior, the Tigers knew they needed to win a pair of games on Saturday to lift the trophy.

That journey couldn’t have started more poorly.

In Game 1, Milford’s defense committed five errors in the top of the first inning, which allowed Altamont to race to a quick 6-0 lead.

“Well, we didn’t have (five) errors in the first inning in our pregame speech,” said Milford coach Tyler McMullin about the start.

Despite the poor start, the narrative within the team didn’t change. McMullin said “we’re a next man up team,” so that’s exactly what Milford did. It strung together good at-bats, and by the end of the second inning, the game was tied 7-7.

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Milford eventually pulled away for good with a four-run fifth inning as it prevailed by holding Altamont scoreless in the final three frames.

The win in many ways mirrored Milford’s come-from-behind win over Wayne the night before

“We learned a valuable lesson last night in the comeback win, and when that kind of thing happens, it sticks with the team and you’re able to come back and do it the next time,” said coach McMullin.

As much as anything, Milford cleaned up its defense after committing those six errors in the first two innings of Game 1. From that point on it didn’t commit an error, the rest of the day — eight straight innings. It went error free in the last five innings of Game 1 and none in the three innings in Game 2.

“We’re pretty young. The nerves at state tournament are always big, right? They just have to be able to lock into a whole different mode,” said coach McMullin.

After winning Game 1, coach McMullin was worried his team might lose that momentum while waiting around for the conclusion of the 2A championship.

That wasn’t an issue at all. Jaidyn McMullin didn’t allow a hit in her three innings in the circle, and then offensively Milford was patient at the plate and took advantage of erratic Altamont pitching as it scored five runs in the first, second and third innings, winning it with a walk-off walk by Reese Wunderlich in the bottom of the third for the mercy-rule win.

Milford drew 12 walks in the second title game.

“Our girls stayed really relaxed and we came out and were ready. We trained our pitchers, we come out and threw strikes. (Jaidyn) stepped up big today coming off a shoulder injury and came in and pitched in both games today and really locked it in,” said coach McMullin.

His daughter, Jaidyn, said the entire team just felt more relaxed in the second game.

“I felt like we didn’t have as much pressure on us because we — like, we came up from, like, losing a game so we, like, didn’t have as much pressure at — on us. We just, like, hit the ball and...

She added, “I was hitting my spots and we’ve played Altamont four times (before), so I kind of knew what batters, where to pitch it for each batter, so I feel like that did help.”

Milford and Altamont met a total of five times this season. After their split the region series, Milford won two of three to win the state title.

This was first season 1A teams competed for their own state championship, as they’ve always had to compete against bigger 2A teams in the 2A playoffs.

Milford played several of those 2A teams during the regular season, and Jaidyn McMullin said the experience gained against those higher-classification teams paid off in Saturday’s pressure moments — after that rough start.

“We we just focused up and we all knew that we had a different job that we had to do,” said Jaidyn McMullin after those early errors. “We all focused up.”

Added her coach, “We set a goal. We felt like we were going to be the best team all year long and it showed today. I think we put a stamp on it.”