The 2011 spring ball season came to a close Tuesday with Emery hosting the Delta Rabbits on both the softball field and the baseball field. Emery came away victorious in both sports and the state 3-A tourney now awaits both teams. The baseball team won 7-3 and the softball team won 8-3.
Victory was sweet for both teams as it sends both to the playoffs on a high note but especially for the boys as the defeated the region champion in that last game and also secured themselves a higher playoff seed than a loss would have brought.
The girls defeated a team that they should have defeated but they played well in doing so. The Lady Spartans continued hitting the ball well but they also played perfectly in the field as they committed no errors and they made all the plays that they should have made.
For the boys, Geren Payne pitched a complete game and limited the high-flying Rabbits to only two hits in the game. Those two hits came in the third inning where the Rabbits scored their runs in the game. After the first Rabbit batters got out, Payne issued one of only two walks he gave up in the game. The next batter got on base due to an infield error that would have ended the inning, but instead kept the inning alive with two runners on. The next two batters doubled and singled and Delta had their three runs in the game.
Over the last four innings of work, Payne only pitched to 13 batters, one over the minimum required as he completed his best effort of the season. Nathan Mecham pitched the last inning for the Spartans to shut down the Rabbits.
Emery scored a single run in the first inning, three in the second inning, two in the third inning and the final run in the fourth inning. In the first inning, Nathan Mecham walked and scored. In the second inning, Tappan Draper singled, a pitch hit Nick Stoddard and Chance Huntington got on base due to a first baseman error. All three scored for the Spartans.
In the third inning, Geren Payne singled, Kash Jewkes singled and Stoddard got hit again. Curtis Mason also walked in the inning but it would be Payne and Jewkes that scored on a combination of stolen bases and passed balls. The final run came when Mecham singled and moved around the bases and scored on singles by Payne and Jewkes.
For the softball team, Delta scored two runs in the second inning on three base hits and a single run in the fifth inning on a pair of base hits. Delta got only five hits off Emery pitcher Whitney Roper in the game, all in those two innings. Roper also struck out eight batters and gave up no walks in the game.
Emery scored four runs in the second inning, one in the third inning, one in the fourth inning and the final two in the fifth inning. In that second inning, Jeridi Price walked, a pitch hit Auminee Bennett and Kaitlyn Thompson singled scoring Price. After a ground out, Markette Tanner hit a home run over the center field fence and Emery led 4-2.
In the third, Roper got hit by a pitch, Shelby Mason singled to left field and Price doubled to score Roper before the inning ended. In the fourth inning, Makiah Sherman got on base due to error by the Rabbit shortstop followed by Tanner singling to left field and Sherman scored on a sacrifice fly to center field by Bryton Hess.
Emery’s final two runs came after a pitch hit Price, Bennett singled, Sherman singled and Tanner doubled scoring two runs. Markette ended the day with three hits in four at bats and had five RBI’s in the game. Mason was the only other Emery batter to get more than one hit in the game as she singled twice.
Both teams finished third in the region and both will play the first weekend in Cedar City which is good for those fans that have interest in both teams. Emery baseball will play at 10 a.m. at Canyon View High School and the girls will play their first game at Cedar High at noon.
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