| Candice Norton makes the play from third base to first. |
Last weekend, the Emery High Lady Spartans traveled to Taylorsville to play in the state 3-A softball tournament and finished seventh in the 16-team field. The Bear River Bears won the tournament with Cedar High second and Juan Diego third.
After having defeated Judge Memorial the previous week, Emery faced Uintah in the quarterfinals and lost a heartbreaker 5-3. Emery then defeated Morgan 3-2 before losing to Union 7-0 to end their post-season play.
Although Emery, like all teams this time of the year, would like to have finished with a championship, they have to be proud of the progress the program made this season. Emery won 19 ball games, Emery went to the play-offs and Emery won two games in the play-offs. The girls are proud of their efforts and those returning next season are already excited for the season to begin.
Against Uintah, Emery scored first. Leslee Lake doubled in the second inning and scored on a single by Whitney Allen. Uintah tied the game in the bottom of the inning. Uintah added a single run in the fourth inning and the fifth inning to lead 3-1. Emery to this point had hit the ball hard but right at people.
| Shortstop Jalee Jensen makes the throw to Abbie Kay at first. |
In the top of the sixth inning, Keera Allred led off with a single to right field. Jalee Jensen singled and Adriane Weihing singled on a bunt. Allred got thrown out trying to go home before Lake doubled to left field to score Jensen and Weihing. The game was now tied at 3-3. In the bottom of the inning, Uintah added two runs to win the game as Emery went scoreless in the seventh inning.
Against Morgan, Emery scored a run in the bottom of the first inning as Jensen singled to left field, Weihing singled to center field, Chelsea Skinner singled to center field and Lake walked. Emery added two more runs in the fourth inning. Emery had five base runners on two hits and three walks but could only score two runs. Allen and Jensen singled, Candice Norton, Markette Tanner and Weihing each walked but only Norton and Tanner scored.
Uintah scored two runs in the top of the fifth inning to get close but Emery enticed a ground ball to the pitcher with the bases loaded to end the inning. Lake and Norton singled in the bottom of the sixth inning but could not score.
Union came into the Emery game on a tear as they had won their previous game 15-4 defeated Emery 7-0 and then won their next game 12-0. Against Union, Emery finally ran out of what luck they had and exited the tournament in seventh place.
Prior to the start of the championship game, Leslee Lake was honored as a member of the Academic All-State team.