TAYLORSVILLE -- It is best not to wake a slumbering Bear.
After getting run-ruled for the first time this season while also suffering just its second shutout, three-time defending Region 11 champion Bear River had two choices: Feel sorry for itself and engage in negativity with finger-pointing or regroup and make history.
Da Bears chose the second option, and with an 8-0 second-game whitewash of defending 4-A champion Spanish Fork on Monday at Bruin Field became the first team to sweep five consecutive state softball titles.
Bear River (2008-12) had shared the record with Bingham (1991-94), and has won seven 3-A softball crowns.
The Region 12 champion Dons, who dropped down to the state 3-A ranks beginning with the 2011-12 school year, bashed the Bears 16-0 in only three innings in a first-game blowout. That necessitated a second game at Salt Lake Community College on a hot, breezy day that saw temperatures climb into the lower 90s.
"I don't think we came out mentally ready. They came out hard and just had our number," said Bear River senior third baseman Shaunie Owen. "They kept hitting gaps and there was nothing we could do about it."
A condensed strike zone forced junior right-hander Jordan Theurer to groove pitches and Spanish Fork spanked her for 11 runs on 13 hits in only 2 2/3 innings.
Theurer was replaced by senior right-hander Rebekah Wheatley, who was roughed up for five runs on only three hits with a costly outfield error in 1/3 of an inning.
"We talked between games that we had to do it -- we had come this far and put in too much time to lose again -- and we knew we needed to win," Owen said.
Bear River scored seven first-inning runs on four hits, sending 10 batters to the plate versus Spanish Fork senior right-hander Kailey Christensen, who tossed a two-hitter in the first-game romp.
Leadoff batter Morgan Summers, a left-handed slap hitter who has signed with Utah Valley University, singled, was sacrificed to second base by Kassi Fronk and scored on a Dons' throwing error on Theurer's bunt.
Owen had a two-run single and Wheatley's two-run single between first and second made it 5-0.
But Da Bears (26-5 overall) weren't done.
Back-to-back RBI groundouts by Aleisha Taylor and Madison Scoffield gave Bear River a 7-zip lead.
"Everything is in the past and you can't do anything about it. You just move on," said the 17-year-old Owen of the first-game fiasco. "That is what I've heard from all my coaches."
Owen, who is going to Utah State this fall, also played volleyball and girls basketball for the Bears.
"It feels good to make history," she said. "Right before the last batter, I got chills up and down my body. I knew we were going to win."
Owen caught the game-ending pop-up after Theurer struck out Spanish Fork's Nos. 2 and 3 batters in the seventh inning following Kelli Hales' leadoff double.
Theurer scattered eight hits -- working out of a bases-loaded situation in the fifth with no outs and another bases-loaded jam in the third inning -- with one walk and seven strikeouts.
"They (four state titles) all mean a lot, but this one is special being a senior and going out with a bang," Owen said. "We have a good hitting team, top to bottom, with no weak spots. Jordan carried us on her back this season."
Summers went 2-for-4 and scored a run. Theurer was 2-for-3 with a double, a triple and a walk -- she also reached base on an error -- and two runs; and Erin Fox went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run for the Bears, who stranded six base runners -- three in scoring position -- and only struck out three times.
"I think we took the momentum back from them after we jumped on them in the second game," Owen said. "We knew if we got going quickly and we scored early, then we had the momentum. This has not hit me yet. I'm sure it will later today when we ride the fire truck through town."
The Dons (27-4), who were shut out for the first time this season, stranded 10 base runners -- seven in scoring position.
"It was my first time being pulled in the first game," Theurer said. "It was a 0-0 game the second time, and having been run-ruled for the first time gave us a lot of drive for the second game. We were devastated after that first loss.
"Winning state again is nice and sweet," she said. "I wanted to do it for the seven seniors. They are everything you want as leaders and teammates. I felt great the second game; it was one of my best games of the year. My curveball was moving and my riseball was working."
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