3A softball: Late start costs Warriors in elimination loss to Tooele

Written by Andy Griffin
May 16, 2015
Snow Canyon vs. Tooele, Softball, St. George, Utah, May 15, 2015 | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — The Snow Canyon softball team will look at the 2015 3A state tournament as a learning experience and the No. 1 lesson will likely be to get started a little earlier in games.

snow-canyon-smFor the second time in as many days, the Lady Warriors spotted an opponent a big lead, then had a furious comeback fall short. Friday SC had its season end in a 13-10 elimination game loss to Tooele.

Warrior third baseman Shelbee Hutchings tags out a Tooele runner, Snow Canyon vs. Tooele, Softball, St. George, Utah, May 15, 2015 | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Warrior third baseman Shelbee Hutchings tags out a Tooele runner, Snow Canyon vs. Tooele, Softball, St. George, Utah, May 15, 2015 | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

Snow Canyon spotted the Lady Buffaloes an 11-0 lead, then rallied hard and got within 13-9 in the sixth. Unfortunately, SC managed just one run in the seventh and fell for the second time in the tourney to a Region 11 team.

The No. 5-ranked Tooele team won a second game on Friday, but then was also eliminated in a 9-3 loss to Bear River.

Stansbury, 25-4, finished in second place in region 11 in the regular season, but the Stallions are the lone remaining no-loss team as the tourney reaches its climax Saturday. Stansbury beat Bear River 7-1 and Juab 5-4 to reach the noon championship game at Little Valley’s softball complex.

Grantsville, which won Region 11, lost to Juab 8-4 in one semifinal and then fell to Tooele 8-6 in an elimination game. The Cowboys had swept Tooele during the regular season.

Sonya Hardy with a slap hit for Snow Canyon, Snow Canyon vs. Tooele, Softball, St. George, Utah, May 15, 2015 | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Sonya Hardy with a slap hit for Snow Canyon, Snow Canyon vs. Tooele, Softball, St. George, Utah, May 15, 2015 | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

A loser-out game will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday between Juab (23-4) and Bear River (22-7) with the winner having to defeat Stansbury twice to take the title.

The Bears won five straight state titles from 2008-2012, but Stansbury won it 2013 and 2014.

Snow Canyon finishes the year 18-6 and went 2-2 in the state tourney. The Warriors graduate just four seniors from this year’s team, though all four were starters, including slugger Shelbee Hutchings and catcher Skylar Gates.

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Twitter: @oldschoolag

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2015, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Andy Griffin has been in sports media since 1989 and has covered BYU, Utah State and the Utah Jazz as well as all sports in southern Utah. A journalism graduate of USU, Andy has carried on a dual career as both a sports writer and a sports broadcaster and has been heard around the country. He has also been published in USA Today, Sport magazine, The Sporting News, Fairways magazine, the Los Angeles Times and locally in the Deseret News, the Salt Lake Tribune and the Spectrum. Andy was “The Voice of Region 9 sports,” for many years. He also hosted a daily sports talk show for three years called AG in the a.m. Andy has been married to his college sweetheart Shelly for 28 years and has five children ages 13 to 25.

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