Emery Lady Spartans win one at home drop one to Juab

By GARY ARRINGTON Sports writer

The one that got away may come back to haunt the Emery High Lady Spartans as the region softball season winds down. After defeating the previously undefeated in region 12 action Manti Templars on Tuesday, Emery let one that they should have had slip away on Friday at Juab. Emery is now 5-3 in region action and in second place.
On Tuesday, Emery defeated Manti for the second time this season, the first being in a preseason tournament in St. George, by a score of 14-12. On Friday, Juab grabbed an 8-7 win in Nephi.
In the Juab game, Emery starting pitcher Whitney Roper had her worst outing of the year. In the first inning, the Wasps scored eight runs on six hits, two walks and a hit batsman. Sophomore Jeridi Price replaced Roper on the mound and shut down the Wasp bats the rest of the game.
Price allowed one hit and one walk in her five innings of work. In those last five innings, Juab hit seven grounders for outs, four pop flies to the infield for outs and two fly balls to the outfield.
Emery scored two runs in the first inning as Jo Jennings and Makiah Sherman led off with singles and both would eventually score as Bryton Hess hit a double and Roper singled. Emery added another in the second inning as Price walked and scored on a double by Sherman.
Emery added a fourth run in the fourth inning. Auminee Bennett walked and Bennett would score on a single by Hess. In the fifth inning, Emery would score three runs. After the first two batters got out, Price walked again, Bennett doubled to score Price, Jennings singled to score Bennett and Jennings would score on a single by Sherman.
Emery had a double and a single in the top of the seventh by Price and Jennings but the Spartans could not score and game was over.
Jennings, Sherman and Hess each had three hits in the game as Emery out hit Juab 14 to 7. Sherman, Price and Bennett each had a double in the game. Emery left two runners on base while the Wasps only left three runners on base in the game. Definitely one that got away for Emery.
On Tuesday, Emery battled Manti throughout the game and came away with the win by outlasting the Templars. After Manti scored two runs in the top of the first inning, Emery would score seven runs in the bottom of the inning to lead 7-2. Manti added two runs in the second inning, one run in the third inning and five runs in the fourth inning to lead 10-7 after four innings.
After Manti went scoreless in the top of the fifth inning, Emery responded by scoring four runs and grabbed the lead back at 11-10. Manti scored a single run in the sixth inning while Emery added three more runs to lead 14-11. Manti scored one run in the seventh inning on a walk and two doubles but was unable to grab the lead back and Emery won.
The final play of the game was a fly ball hit to centerfield that Emery’s Shelby Mason tracked down and then threw a perfect strike to home and catcher Markette Tanner tagged out the Templar runner for a game ending double play.
This was a game filled with extra base hits for both teams. Emery hit six doubles and a homerun while Manti hit four homeruns, a triple and three doubles. Emery had 13 base hits and Manti had 16 hits. Emery left five runners on base and Manti left 10.
Hitting the doubles for Emery was Jennings, Sherman with two, Tanner, Mason and Price. Bennett hit the homerun in the first inning.
Sherman and Mason each had three hits in the game with eight of the nine batters getting at least one hit in the game.
Emery has been hitting the ball really well the last four games. As a team, the Spartans are batting .393 with Jeridi Price leading the team with a .600 batting average over those same games. Shelby Mason is batting .563, with Bryton Hess batting .533 and Makia Sherman batting .529. Jo Jennings is batting .444 and Markette Tanner is hitting .333. Emery batters have only struck out 13 times in those same four games while they have walked 11 times.
Emery plays North Sanpete on Friday and then will close out the season next Tuesday with a home game against Delta. The first round of state is the following Saturday. Manti leads the region at 6-1 followed by Emery, North Sanpete, Juab, Richfield and Delta. Delta hasn’t won a region game this season.