Cedar trounces Pine View; Lady Reds reign as undefeated Region 9 champions

Cedar High softball players celebrate with Region 9 trophy after wrapping up undefeated regular season with an 11-0 home win over Pine View, Cedar City, Utah, May 4, 2018 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

CEDAR CITY — The Cedar High softball team wrapped up its second straight Region 9 championship Friday afternoon with an 11-0 win at home over Pine View.

Pine View catcher Hallie Linford tags out Cedar’s Shaun Bauman at home plate, Cedar City, Utah, May 4, 2018 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

Cedar finished with a 12-0 season record, outscoring its Region 9 opponents by a combined score of 152-37 over the dozen games, a differential of nearly 10 points per game.

It was the second straight year the Lady Reds had gone undefeated during region play.

Cedar senior Bryton Holyoak pitched Friday’s entire game against Pine View, limiting the Panthers to just two hits and striking out six over five innings.

Kaitlyn Roundy came the closest to scoring for Pine View, doubling in the top of the fifth and final inning and making it as far as third base. However, the other three Panther batters all got out, on an infield ground out and two strikeouts.

Cedar put on an impressive hitting display, particularly in the first and fourth innings.

In the bottom of the first, Cedar’s first two batters, Allie Meisner and Dream Weaver both flew out deep to the outfield. But its next three batters – Denim Henkel, Pua Johnson and Sage Oldroyd – all hit consecutive solo home runs, giving Cedar a 3-0 lead after one.

Cedar had another strong rally with seven more runs scored during the fourth inning. Five of the first six batters hit singles, after which Johnson belted another home run.

Cedar High softball players and coaches pose with Region 9 trophy after wrapping up undefeated regular season with an 11-0 home win over Pine View, Cedar City, Utah, May 4, 2018 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

Following the game, CHS principal John Dodds presented the team with the Region 9 trophy. The girls posed for pictures and celebrated.

Cedar’s eight seniors were honored before the game, the team’s final regular-season home contest. Cedar’s seniors on this year’s team, most of whom have been playing softball together since they were 9 or 10 years old, are Dream Weaver, Pua Johnson, Bryton Holyoak, Sage Oldroyd, Amanda Cardon, Shaun Bauman, Allie Meisner and Abby Anderson.

As the region champion, Cedar will host opening-round 4A playoff games Saturday, May 12. Region 9’s second-, third- and fourth-place teams – Desert Hills, Snow Canyon and Canyon View – will each travel to the other 4A regions’ No. 1-seeded teams’ home fields for first-round action that same day. Click here for the 4A playoff bracket.

Pine View’s Kaitlyn Roundy advances to third base in the fifth inning of an 11-0 loss to Cedar High, Cedar City, Utah, May 4, 2018 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

There are still two more Region 9 regular season games left to play, both of which are make-up games for contests that were rained out previously. Canyon View will host Hurricane on May 8 and Pine View will host Dixie on May 9. Neither game will affect the final season standings.

Snow Canyon 12, Hurricane 3

The Snow Canyon Warriors defeated the visiting Hurricane Tigers 12-3 in seven innings on Friday. Courtney Averett and Sydney McCaul both hit home runs for Snow Canyon, which had 15 hits. Payten Jensen was the winning pitcher, allowing nine hits – all singles – and striking out five.

“We got in a jam in the fifth but went to the plate with some determination and scored seven runs,” Snow Canyon head coach Tracee Heaton said. “It’s good to have some confidence and momentum going into the first round of the playoffs.”

Desert Hills 9, Canyon View 8

At Desert Hills, the Lady Thunder and Canyon View were deadlocked 7-7 after seven innings, which invoked the international tiebreaker rule, with each team starting subsequent extra innings with a runner already at second base.

Canyon View’s Camry Higgins brought in a run for the Falcons in the top of the eighth with a sacrifice fly that scored Jordan Nielson, but they were not able to score any more runs after that.

In the bottom of the eighth, Desert Hills’ Brianna St. Clair hit a deep line drive to left field that tied the game 8-8. Katelyn Philips then hit a single to shallow center, bringing St. Clair for the game-winning run.

“Jordan Nielson pitched her best game of the season,” said Canyon View head coach Tony Krepps.

Nielson scattered eight hits, seven of which were singles, and struck out four. She also had four hits and three RBIs, while teammate Kaitlyn Lacy had two doubles and two RBIs.

“It was another strong performance by the girls,” Krepps said. “One inning with several errors hurt us.”

Region 9 standings (region, overall)

  1. Cedar 12-0, 19-6
  2. Desert Hills  10-2, 22-4
  3. Snow Canyon 8-4, 15-9
  4. Canyon View 5-6, 7-9
  5. Hurricane  3-8, 10-9
  6. Pine View  2-9, 7-14
  7. Dixie  0-11, 1-18

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