| This bull rider puts in a good ride at the Emery rodeo. |
Emery High hosted their annual high school rodeo on April 15 at the Carbon County rodeo grounds.
Emery rodeo club members did very well at the event. Justin Miller placed fourth in bareback. Tawn Jewkes competed in poles and breakaway. Kelby Farnsworth competed in poles and barrels. Jacob Marshall and Chris Wilson competed in bull riding and Zac Jensen and Wacey Allred did team roping. Wacey Allred placed second in bull riding. Colton Grange did team roping and calf roping. Brock Winn did saddlebronc and was seventh in team roping with partner Devin Day from Juab. Jaden Bagley was fifth in bareback. Andy Sitterud was 11th in calf roping. Cade Whittle was fourth in cutting. Lacey Branson participated in barrels and breakaway.
| Draven Farmer pulls a move on his opponent. |
Junior Spartan wrestlers recently completed their season with closing matches. The wrestlers all received medals and T-shirts. Coaches from throughout the county helped the young wrestlers learn new skills.
| Emery High player slides to third base while taking out the player. |
Junior Kyler Edgehouse picked up two wins in pitching Emery to region wins over Delta and North Sanpete in high school baseball. Emery defeated Delta 7-2 before the spring break and then returned after the break to defeat the Hawks 16-5.
Edgehouse started the North Sanpete game by giving up a homerun to the leadoff batter. The Hawks scored one more run in the inning to buoy their spirits as they looked for their first region win. The joy was short lived.
Edgehouse allowed two more runs in the third inning and Trevor Komar pitched the fifth inning and allowed an additional run.
Trevor Thompson, Emery’s leading batter, led off the first inning with a strikeout. Ryne Jones and Ryan Draper both walked before Blake Mortensen also struck out. With two out and two on, Dave Justice walked, Edgehouse walked, Josh Eden walked and then Landon Thomas got on via an error by the Hawk second baseman. Kade Jones then got Emery’s first hit of the game and picked up two RBI’s. Emery now led 5-2.
Thompson, still Emery’s leading batter, came up for the second time in the inning and promptly tripled scoring two more runs. Jones was up to bat again and this time tripled scoring Thompson. Draper walked for the second time, Mortensen got a single this time up and Justice was hit by a pitch. Edgehouse got on board due to another Hawk error before Eden finally ended the inning with a ground out. Twelve Emery batters scored in the first inning. All after two outs.
Emery scored four more times in the second inning as Thomas walked, Thompson doubled, Jones singled and Mortensen’s fly ball to left field was dropped. Justice added a single and Emery had four more runs. Emery played JV players the last inning and a half in the victory.
In the Delta game, Emery scored once in the second inning, once in the fourth inning, twice in the fifth inning and three times in the sixth inning. Delta only scored twice in the fifth inning. This loss is Delta’s only region loss of the season. Edgehouse picked up the win. He allowed eight hits over the seven innings and struck out 10 batters.
Emery’s second inning score was by Edgehouse. He had singled before Draper brought him home with a triple.
Emery’s fourth inning score was by Justice. He got on via a dropped third strike and was brought home on a double by Ryne Jones.
Thomas and Eden each singled to start the fifth inning. After a Thompson sacrifice fly, Edgehouse and Justice each singled and Emery had two more runs.
Ryne Jones, Mortensen and Thomas scored Emery’s final runs. Jones singled, Blake tripled and Thomas singled. Eden then walked and Thompson singled for Emery’s last base hit.
Thomas led the way with three base hits as the Spartans finished the game with 13 base hits.
Emery is on the road next week as they travel to Granite and Carbon for more exciting region baseball. On Thursday, Emery will host Manti in a non-region game.
There is good news, there is bad news and then there is better news. Sometimes you just do not know what order in which they come or in what category they fit.
The good news is that I lost 15 pounds in less than a week. It is absolutely amazing how much better one feels with just a measly 15 pounds less being toted around on the body.
The bad news is that no one else will want to follow my example. You cannot, or at least should not, duplicate my efforts. It would not necessarily be a pleasant experience for any of you. It was not for me.
The better news is that things are improving and that life is returning to almost normal. All right I hear you snickering, I hear you thinking “almost normal”, there is no way. You have never been almost normal.
There is a saying on my wall by Les Brown that says “No one gets out of the game of life alive. You either die in the bleachers or on the field. So you might as well come out on the field and go for it!”
So I did. I went out on the field, and even though the results are not what any person would hope for and it hurt like heck, I am glad that I did. (Heck is what we said growing up in Idaho when we could not say h-e- double toothpick.)
I agreed to be one of those people that everybody loves to yell at and curse and call names and wonder if you are blind and every other manner of harassment. I umpired a softball game at the high school, a sophomore game no less.
I was told repeatedly “These are sophomores, you need shin guards.”
They were emphatic about it but I was bull headed. I’ll be all right. They insisted, “NO these are sophomores, you will need them.” I did not listen.
Well they were wrong, I did not need them. What I needed was for the Delta pitcher not to pitch early. What I needed was for the pitch that the Delta pitcher pitched early to be low not high. What I needed was for the pitch that the Delta pitcher pitched early that should have been low and not high to not be fouled off by the batter. What I needed was a different set of circumstances.
As I returned to the plate after a call in field, just as I was returning the mask to its rightful place of protecting my face from errant balls, here came the above scenario.
And it was not pretty and it kinda hurt. Fans in the stands thought they saw pieces of teeth flying. All I knew was I had a mouth full of blood and a hole along my tooth line. I cut my bottom lip deeply and lost my two front teeth. In a mirror I thought I looked like a character out of Lord of the Rings. You know which ones.
Well to cut to the chase, liquids are what I had for a week, could not chew, could not even use a straw. I dribbled more than once, as I could not control my lower lip into doing the right thing. So that brings us back to the good news, I lost weight and I feel better, and the saga continues.