TAYLORSVILLE -- For the second straight night, the Roy High softball team refused to give up when they were down and after the dust cleared on Wednesday's 4-A semifinal match they had made the championship game for the fourth-straight year.
With Murray up 6-5 in the final inning it was junior short stop Jordynn Barrera who led off Roy's last at-bat with a double that sparked a four-run inning and lifted the Royals to a 9-6 win, keeping their undefeated tournament bid alive.
"These girls have stepped up and made it easy to believe in them," Roy coach Amanda Koford said. "They're just tough-minded kids that want to win."
Murray didn't make it easy though as the Spartan bats blasted a trio of homeruns on the night and senior pitcher Elise Johnson blanked Roy for the first four innings.
Roy took their first lead with a five-run fifth inning capped by senior catcher Caylie Phelts' bases loaded single that scored two.
A lead-off homer from Murray's Breanna Packer in the bottom of the fifth followed by a two-run shot from the pitcher, Johnson, put the Spartans back on top, 6-5.
After a scoreless sixth the Royals found themselves in the same predicament as the previous night, down one in the final inning with Barrera at the plate.
Barrera's double was followed by a walk, then a throwing error to first on a routine grounder scored Barrera and tied things at six.
With two runners on the Royals flied and struck out before senior third baseman Bryce Mitchell lined a shot to center scoring the runners and giving Roy an 8-6 advantage.
Mitchell ended the night 3-for-4 with a pair of RBIs.
"I knew we could still come back because we'd done it before," Mitchell said. "They (Murray) were coming at us as hard as they could and I knew we just had to fight back."
Roy scored once more and in the bottom of the seventh retired the Spartans in order with senior pitcher Jamie Aiken ending the game with her fifth strikeout of the evening.
At 5 p.m. the Royals will face the winner of the Salem Hills/Murray game slated for 2:45 p.m.
"They're proving that this is what they want more than anything in the world," Koford said. "And now they get a shot."
* BOX ELDER 7, SKYLINE 3: The Region 5 champion Bees knocked down the Eagles for a second time this postseason.
Freshman Sadie Blacker went 2-for-4 with two RBIs, including a two-run bomb, and scored two runs. Karly Bunderson was 2-for-4 with an RBI; Makinley Duke went 2-for-3 with a run; Molly Horne had a sacrifice fly with a run; and Venessa Quintero and Kelsey Rodriguez each had an RBI single for Box Elder (24-3), which broke a 3-all tie with a four-run seventh inning.
Junior right-hander Baylee Reeves allowed 11 hits with one strikeout, a walk and one hit batter.
* SALEM HILLS 3, BOX ELDER 0: The Bees were shut out for the first time this season and saw their season ended by the Skyhawks.
Box Elder beat Region 8 co-champion Salem Hills 7-3 in the second round on May 17 at Brigham City.
The Bees had just three hits against sophomore right-hander Kirtlyn Bohling, who struck out 10 -- nine of which were swinging -- and walked two.
Bunderson went 2-for-3 and Morgan McCormick, who is Box Elder's lone senior, had the other single for the Bees (24-4).
5-A tournament
* WEBER 8, DAVIS 1: Hali Bennion doesn't buy into the notion that it is tough to beat the same team three times in a season.
"I believe in my team and as long as we play like we can, we can beat anyone," said Bennion, a junior first baseman. "We prepare for every pitcher the same way. We work on our swings against what she throws."
Junior right-hander Cheyenne Norton didn't play in the first Davis-Weber game on April 20 at Pleasant View -- a 10-2 Warriors' victory -- while recovering after being hit in the forehead by a line drive during the Layton game.
The Region 1 champion Warriors had 10 hits off Norton, who issued seven walks and fanned four.
Bennion's leadoff home run over the right-center field fence tied the score 1-1 in the second inning.
"It felt pretty good. It seemed like it was going out," she said.
The 17-year-old Bennion went 3-for-3 with a walk, three RBIs and scored two runs.
"I haven't been hitting as well as I can, so I had to focus more and defend for the team," she said. "We couldn't be too overconfident against Davis, so we approached it like we hadn't played them before."
Weber sent 12 batters to the plate in the fourth inning, scoring seven runs on seven hits and four walks -- three of which scored.
"Intensity keyed the fourth inning," Bennion said. "Once a person starts something, everybody looks to follow and have faith in your teammates. Everybody was in the game and playing with passion.
"We came back knowing we had games to play and we're not done yet," she said. "I think it (a 1-0 loss to Copper Hills on Tuesday) was a wake-up call, and we knew we had to come back. It we don't do it for ourselves, someone will take advantage of it."
Junior right-handers McKenna Bull and Lexus Goodpasture combined on a five-hitter with six strikeouts, two walks and a hit batter.
Erin Reichle had a two-run single; Taylor Stroud drilled an RBI double with a run; and Johnni Arbon had a two-run single for the Warriors (25-3).
Cheyne Moffett went 2-for-4 and Autumn Woodfall had a first-inning RBI sacrifice for the Darts (16-9).
* WEBER 6, RIVERTON 0: Bull blanked the Silverwolves on four hits with 10 strikeouts and two walks as the Warriors remained alive in the one-loss bracket.
Weber tangles with Region 4 champion Bingham today at 2:45 p.m. with the winner playing undefeated Region 3 champion Copper Hills at 5 p.m. for the state 5-A title.
A second game, if necessary, would be played 15 minutes after the first game.
"I just wish we would have played like this yesterday. We were still pretty confident; we know our abilities," Weber coach Melinda Wade said. "One bad game is not going to define us as a team. The plan is to win three games tomorrow."
Nicole Weiss went 2-for-3 with a double, a two-run shot and scored two runs. Hannah Charlton was 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI; Arbon had a run-scoring fielder's choice; and Reichle had an RBI single for the Warriors (26-3).
"We had a little more confidence in the batter's box against Riverton, which carried over from the Davis game," Wade said.
Weber only beat the Silverwolves 2-1 in the second round on May 17 at Pleasant View's Earl Heninger Field.
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