ST. GEORGE – Top seeds Snow Canyon and Uintah got wins Saturday, but half of the games were washed out by rain in the first round of the 3A Softball Tournament around the state of Utah.

The only pods to compete during the soggy day were the Snow Canyon and Uintah pods. The Warriors blasted Morgan and Uintah mercy-ruled Dixie. The Flyers also lost a loser-out game and had their season end at the hands of Payson. Morgan was eliminated by Carbon. The other pods (Juab and Grantsville) rescheduled games for early next week. Here’s a recap of the games that were played:

Snow Canyon 19, Morgan 0

The Warriors were concerned about the Trojans heading into the game, but shouldn’t have been as this was a mismatch from the get-go.

Snow Canyon pounded out 12 hits and took advantage of four Morgan errors — in just two innings — as the top-seeded Warriors took advantage of the mismatch. The game was shortened to just three innings as per softball’s mercy rule, which allows major blowouts (15 runs or more) to end that early.

“We got up there ready to hit and wanting to hit and it was just contagious today,” Warriors head coach Tracee Heaton said.

Being at home helped Snow Canyon, especially with the playoffs beginning.

“All week we’ve been trying to get our minds together,” SC catcher Skylar Gates said. “We have that home-game advantage and we’ve been trying to get good rest and get good sleep. It’s been nice to focus and just play our game.”

Gates had a single, a double and scored three times. She also knocked home four of her teammates in the rout. Sonya Hardy had two hits and three RBIs and Mada Mooring and Katelyn Flowers both had a couple of base knocks.

The Warriors scored nine runs in the first inning, then topped that with 10 in the second inning. In just the two frames, SC had 22 at-bats, 12 hits, four walks and 15 RBIs. Heather Prestwich allowed one hit in the three innings of work for SC.

The way the softball tournament is set up, Snow Canyon only got one game Saturday in its home pod (the losers played two games and Morgan was eliminated by Carbon later in the afternoon). But the Warriors will play in southern Utah for the remainder of tournament as the venue shifts to the softball fields in Little Valley. Snow Canyon will battle perennial powerhouse Stansbury at 2 p.m. Thursday on Little Valley’s Field 1. The Stallions beat Carbon 6-1 Saturday at Snow Canyon.

Stats: morscsb5915

Uintah 10, Dixie 0
Payson 8, Dixie 3

In the opening game, the home-standing Lady Utes scored two runs in each of the game’s five innings, invoking the mercy-rule. Summer Stensgard homered twice and got the victory in the circle for Uintah, which improved to 25-3 on the year. The Utes will play Bear River Thursday at 2 p.m. on Little Valley’s Field 2. The Bears beat Payson 12-2.

In the elimination game, the Lions ended the Flyers season with the five-run victory. Payson stays alive with the win and will play at 4 p.m. Thursday on Little Valley’s Field 4 against an opponent that has yet to be determined.

It was a bitter ending for Dixie, which finished the Region 9 season strong. The Flyers won four of their last five games to snatch the final playoff spot and fourth place in the region. They end the year with a 9-12 record overall.

The Juab pod is scheduled for Monday at 12:30, 2:30 and 4:30 p.m. Cedar, the third seed from Region 9, plays Juan Diego at 2:30 p.m. at Juab High in Nephi.

The Grantsville pod is at noon, 2 and 4 p.m. Canyon View, the second seed from Region 9, plays Union at 2 p.m.

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