Here’s a recap of the 6A softball state tournament games at Valley Complex on Wednesday, with Riverton and Herriman advancing to the best-of-3 championship series.
Riverton 10, Davis 5
The goal for top-ranked Riverton was to play one game on Wednesday. However, when Davis staved off elimination and upset the ‘Wolves in 6A bracket play, suddenly the tournament favorites were staring at potential elimination in the “if necessary” rematch 30 minutes later.
The urgency of that reality refocused Riverton, which regrouped and rolled in the second “if necessary” game 10-5 to advance to the best-of-3 6A state championship series beginning on Thursday at BYU.
Riverton coach Whitley Haimin said there was a subtle shift in mindset between the games, and it paid dividends right away as the ‘Wolves jumped out fast with four runs in the bottom of the first inning.
Payton Sanchez led off the inning with a solo home run and Riverton never looked back, stretching the lead to 10-2 after four innings.
“Super proud and very confident going into this weekend. I can’t say enough good things about our kids. I feel like they’re very resilient. We made it a little bit harder, but overall, don’t want to take anything away from Davis. They are a great squad. Just had to figure it out,” said Haimin.
Jaydan Bushman went 2 for 2 for Riverton with a home run and two RBIs, while Kenzie Anderson also drove in a pair of runs in the win.
Riverton used three different pitchers in the first game loss with Davis, but in the second game Lindsey Strieby earned the complete game victory as she struck out two and avoided big innings by pitching around three walks.
Haimin praised her entire team for the right mentality throughout the day of supporting each other through the highs and lows of the competition.
“I think they did a really good job at picking each other up,” Haimin said. “Maybe someone didn’t succeed somewhere, then allowing their teammates to help pick them up and be selfless, and shout out to our dugout. Our dugout did awesome.
I think it plays a really big role in the energy, so I think that also played a big part for sure."
Riverton will face region rival Herriman in the championship series after the teams split the region series. Game 1 of the series is Thursday at 7 p.m., followed by Game 2 on Friday at 1:30 p.m.
This is Haimin’s third year as head coach at Riverton, and she’s led the team to the championship series in all three years now, beating Bingham in three games in 2024 and 2025.
Herriman 11, Mountain Ridge 1
After a one-year hiatus, Herriman is back in the 6A state championship series.
A day after 10-running Mountain Ridge in 6A bracket play, the Mustangs duplicated that effort on Wednesday with an 11-1 win over the Sentinels to advance to the title series.
Just as it’s been all year, a deep lineup one through nine was the key for Herriman in staying perfect in tourney action.
“We’re not depending on one kid. If one kid doesn’t show, the other one steps up and does the job. it’s just fun to see that happen,” said Herriman coach Heidi McKissick.
“We had one kid bat a thousand yesterday, and then she didn’t bat a thousand today, and the other kid batted a thousand. Defense is solid, pitching is doing a great job, just hitting spots, not trying to really blow by anyone, but just let the defense help them out.”
Since a humbling 15-2 loss to Riverton in the second-to-last game of the regular season, Herriman’s bats have been red hot, scoring double digit runs in all six games including Wednesday.
Herriman pounded out 15 hits in beating Mountain Ridge in five innings.
Ayvree Egelund went 2 for 2 in the win with a home run and two RBIs, while Jaylee Hansen went 2 for 3 with a home run. Six different players recorded two hits in the victory.
Egelund, a junior who’s been starting since she was a freshman, said the team has prioritized hitting much more this season than during its disappointing season a year ago.
“We make sure we get, no matter what, we make sure we get our hitting in, and we keep a routine up which really helps us is, we split up, we’ll do outfield, then we’ll do hitting, we’ll do infield, then we’ll do hitting,” said Egelund. “Our routine and hitting is really just gotten us where it is.”
Herriman built a batting cage adjacent to its field since last season, and Egelund said that’s really helped the players stay sharp all year in the batter’s box.
The Mustangs scored in every inning in beating Mountain Ridge, leading 2-1 after the first inning, then 3-1, 4-1, 7-1 and finally 11-1.
In the circle, junior Sierra Prescott held the Mountain Crest bats in in check, striking out four and only allowing five hits.
McKissick said they didn’t ask her to overpower anyone, but rather just hit her spots and let the defense do the work.
“She knew that her job was just to provide weak ground balls, fly balls, anything just to do with her defense,” said McKissick.
Davis 5, Bingham 4
Ella Nielson’s 2 for 3, two-RBI performance highlighted Davis’s narrow 5-4 victory over Bingham in a pivotal 6A playoff elimination game.
Despite falling behind with an early 1-0 deficit, Davis rallied with a two-run second inning to take the lead. Bingham later tied it with two runs in the fourth inning, but Davis eventually clinched the win when Koryn Mafi’s bloop single in extra innings broke the 4-4 tie.
Davis will advance to face top seed Riverton in the next round, keeping its season alive.
Mountain Ridge 9, Lehi 7
Sydney Lambert powered Mountain Ridge to a 9-7 victory over Lehi with a performance that included going 2 for 5, hitting two home runs and collecting four RBIs in this 6A state tournament elimination game.
Mountain Ridge rallied late with three runs in the eighth inning to overcome Lehi’s lead, following Lehi’s attempt to seize control with three runs in the sixth.
Sahar Fard went 3 for 5 for the Sentinels, contributing significantly to the team’s 13-hit day.
Davis 8, Riverton 7
Koryn Mafi went 2 for 3 with a double, homer and three RBIs. Davis scored three runs in the second inning and maintained its lead despite Riverton’s late effort with two runs in both the fifth and sixth innings.
Cambell Christensen contributed in the circle for Davis with four strikeouts.