Lady Spartans win three drop one to San Juan

By GARY ARRINGTON Sports Writer

Before the Easter break, the Emery High Lady Spartan softball team completely dominated their two games as they pounded out 26 base hits and scored 33 runs in two games played at home. Emery defeated South Sevier in region 15 action 18-1 and then defeated North Sevier in a non-region contest 15-3.
Last week, Emery faced their toughest competition of the season as they traveled to San Juan to face the defending 2-A state champions in a game that will conclude the first half of region play. Both teams are 3-0 at this point.
Against South Sevier, the Lady Rams scored a run in the first inning as they got three straight hits off Emery pitcher Whitney Roper. At the time nobody knew that those would be the only base hits that Roper would surrender. Roper would give up no walks and only one other South Sevier batter would get on base in the game and that was due to an error.
Emery answered with a run in the bottom of the first to tie the score at 1-1. Neither team scored in the second. In the bottom of the third inning, Emery got three base hits, two walks and the Ram pitcher hit four Spartan batters with a pitch and Emery scored nine runs to break open the close game.
Emery added six more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to mercifully put the game away. In that inning, Emery had four hits, two walks and another hit batter.
Jo Jennings walked three times and scored three times from the leadoff position. Whitney Roper scored four times as she walked twice got hit once and got a base hit the other. Extra base hits in the game were hit by Jaiden Huntington with a homerun, Auminee Bennett with a triple and Jeridi Price with a double. Eight of the nine Emery batters in the lineup scored in the game and all nine got on base at least once. Bryton Hess, Price and Bennett each had three RBIs.
In the game against North Sevier, Emery scored in five of the six innings played while holding North Sevier to a single run in the third, fifth and sixth innings. Jeridi Price picked up the win in this game. Price gave up three base hits and a single walk while striking out eight batters.
Emery scored two runs in the first inning, one in the second inning, six runs in the third inning, two more in the fifth inning and four more in the sixth inning as the game was called with Emery still up to bat due to the mercy rule.
Five Emery batters had a base hit that went for extra bases. Price had both a double and a triple in the game while Bryton Hess had two doubles. Also hitting doubles were Bennett, Huntington and Jennings.
Jennings led the way with four runs scored while Hess would score three times. Price had five RBI’s in the game for Emery. Eight out of nine Emery batters got base hits in the game.
For the season, Emery has a record of 11-3. Emery batters have chalked up 21 extra base hits this season. Seven batters have hit homeruns with Huntington leading the way with four. Bennett has hit three. Five different Spartans have hit triples with Roper leading the way with two. Nine different batters have hit doubles this season with Price leading the team with five.
The Emery High softball team split their region 15 contests last week as they played two away games. On Tuesday, Emery traveled to Blanding and lost a game to the defending 2-A state champions 12-1. On Friday, Emery started the second half of region play. Emery traveled to Richfield and defeated the Wildcats 7-5.
Against San Juan, Emery struggled both offensively and defensively in the game. The Spartans single run came on a Jeridi Price home run in the fourth inning. Emery had only one other base hit in the game. San Juan scored in all four innings that they came to bat. The game was called after Emery batted in the fifth inning. San Juan hit five home runs in the game as the Bronco batters took advantage of the short outfield fence. San Juan also had a double and a triple in the game as part of their 14 base hits.
At Richfield, Emery scored three times in the third inning, once in the fifth inning, twice in the sixth inning and once in the seventh inning. Richfield scored once in the fifth inning and once in the sixth inning before making the game close with scoring three runs in the seventh inning.
Jaiden Huntington and Whitney Roper hits home runs in this game and Bryton Hess and JoLynn Jennings had doubles. Emery had nine base hits and Richfield had 13. The Wildcats had four errors in the game. Emery has a home game this Tuesday against Grand and then will travel to South Sevier on Friday.