| Mandi Weihing catches the throw to first base for Emery. |
The game was scheduled to be played the previous Thursday but, being spring and all here in Emery County, the snow came and the game was rescheduled for the next Monday and Monday was an absolutely beautiful day in Castle Dale. The Lady Spartans took advantage of the conditions and defeated Delta in softball 4-1, for their first region win of the season.
Jerica Jensen, daughter of LD and Christy Jensen of Cleveland, pitched her best game of the year to keep her team in contention for the win. Jerica pitched 5 1/3 innings of no-hit ball before giving up three hits for the game. She walked no batters and only came close once. Jerica also had four strikeouts. Delta scored their only run in the sixth inning.
The Spartans were limited to three hits, a walk and no runs through the first five innings. In the bottom of the sixth and down 1-0, Mandi Weihing led off the inning with a walk. Jerica and Adrian McNee followed with bunt singles to load the bases with no outs. Cortni Jensen, who already had a single and a walk in the game, tripled to right center field to knock in three Emery runs and she then scored on Carly Anderson’s fly ball to left field.
In the top of the seventh, the first Delta batter singled before Jerica enticed two pop-ups and a fly ball for three outs and the victory.
On Tuesday, the Spartans hosted the Grand Red Devils in a non-region game and lost 7-5. They had lost earlier in the year 16-1. Grand is currently undefeated this season and the top-ranked team in 2-A softball. Emery scored a run in the third inning as Erin Anselmo singled, Mandi Weihing singled and Erin scored on a hit by Jerica. In the seventh inning, after two outs, Mandi singled to right, Jerica singled to center and Adrian McNee hit a three run homerun. Cortni followed with a single homerun to right center.
Both teams had nine hits and a single error, but Grand just bunched their hits together better in their victory. Emery finished the region season Thursday with an 11-1 loss at co-region champion North Sanpete. With Delta’s upset victory over Carbon, Emery will not play in this year’s playoffs.