5A softball playoffs: West Field puts away Clearfield; Box Elder wins twice
-
- West Field’s Kam Bell, rear, takes off after Clearfield’s Teaghan McNabb releases her pitch during the 5A softball state playoffs on Tuesday, May 19, at Valley Regional Park in Taylorsville.
-
- West Field’s Ayzlee Sessions celebrates her two-run home run as she crosses home plate during the 5A softball state playoffs with Clearfield on Tuesday, May 19, at Valley Regional Park in Taylorsville.
-
- West Field’s Brinklee Hadley fires off a pitch during the 5A softball state playoffs with Clearfield on Tuesday, May 19, at Valley Regional Park in Taylorsville.
-
- Clearfield’s Skylar Davis celebrates a walk during the 5A softball state playoffs with West Field on Tuesday, May 19, at Valley Regional Park in Taylorsville.
Double-elimination bracket play for the Class 5A softball playoffs picked up in full swing Tuesday morning. Box Elder finds itself one win from the championship series while West Field faces elimination games to stay alive. Clearfield met a tough end Tuesday afternoon in a pitchers’ duel.
WEST FIELD 11, CLEARFIELD 2
TAYLORSVILLE — West Field’s Kadence Dyson came to the 5A state softball playoffs a bit more than prepared on Tuesday morning at Valley Regional Park.
The freshman third baseman powered the No. 4 Longhorns to an 11-2 win over No. 5 Clearfield to begin double-elimination bracket play.
Dyson’s 3-for-4 game at the plate yielded five RBIs, including a two-RBI single that broke the doors down against the Falcons (19-6) and paved the way for a fourth consecutive win since dropping the Region 5 championship to Box Elder earlier this month.
In April, Clearfield assembled a 12-hit day to defeat the Longhorns 12-11 during a regular-season rematch. Dyson, who went 3 for 4 that day, including a one-run homer, said reflecting on that loss made all the difference when approaching the postseason.
“I think when we lost, we came back hard,” Dyson said. “Just working on defense, where we struggled last game, that’s where we came back today.”
West Field’s defense certainly tied up the Falcons.
Clearfield managed the game’s opening run on a passed ball but the Falcons were largely ineffective at converting nine walks with just three total hits against the pitching duo of Brinklee Hadley and Alena Lynch.
Ayzlee Sessions brought the relief with a two-run homer for a 2-1 lead in the second. Lynch, netting a two-RBI double off Clearfield’s Teaghan McNabb, and Dyson, doubling for two more runs, made it a 6-1 contest through the third.
Clearfield stranded three runners in the third, two in the fourth and finally scored a run off Hadley on a bases-loaded walk, still trailing by five.
By then, though, Dyson already pushed the envelope with another one-run double off Clearfield reliever Samantha Waite in the fourth. Waite silenced the Longhorns briefly in the fifth, but she’d soon battle West Field reliever Lynch through three gutsy frames.
“They have a big impact,” Dyson said of Hadley and Lynch. “We rely on them a lot.”
Lynch hit Lilly Lara to offer a free base to begin the sixth, but quickly found her form with a strikeout and two pop-outs to end the side. In the bottom of the sixth, Dyson’s two-RBI single, two Clearfield errors, and RBI singles by Ellie Koford and Quinn Garrett pushed the lead to 11-2.
West Field (21-6) finished the game with 13 hits.
BOX ELDER 6, SPANISH FORK 1
TAYLORSVILLE — Kennadie Blackmer struck out 14 in a complete-game five-hitter Tuesday afternoon to send No. 2 Box Elder to the final day of double-elimination bracket play unscathed in a victory over No. 3 Spanish Fork (23-8).
Kailee Hall hit 3 for 4 with two RBIs and three runs scored from the leadoff spot for Box Elder (27-3), including a two-run homer in the sixth to help put the game away. Lucy Griffin broke a 1-1 tie in the third inning with a two-run double; she finished 2 for 3 at the dish.
Box Elder next plays 12:30 p.m. Wednesday for a trip to the 5A title series against either No. 3 Spanish Fork or No. 7 Maple Mountain. If BE loses that game, an if-necessary rematch would take place immediately after.
BOX ELDER 13, MAPLE MTN 3
TAYLORSVILLE — No. 2 Box Elder homered four times in the first three innings, including two solo shots from Kennadie Blackmer, and the Bees run-ruled No. 7 Maple Mountain (21-9) in five innings to open 5A bracket play Tuesday morning at Valley Complex.
Kailee Hall hit a three-run homer in the third and Maclee Willard knocked a two-run home run in the second inning. Blackmer’s second homer made it 12-3 after three innings. Maycie Moss scored on an error in the fourth to set up the run rule. Blackmer pitched the final 2 2/3 innings in relief, allowing one baserunner (a walk) and striking out three.
SALEM HILLS 13, WEST FIELD 1
TAYLORSVILLE — No. 4 West Field committed three errors in the first two innings, setting up No. 1 Salem Hills (29-1) with three consecutive home runs in the bottom of the second to take an 8-1 lead and never look back in a 5A winner’s bracket game Tuesday afternoon.
That knocks West Field (21-7) to an elimination game at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday against No. 8 Springville. With a win, West Field would get a rematch with Salem Hills at 12:30 p.m.
Brinklee Hadley, who gave up one earned run in a 1 2/3-inning start, doubled in Rylee Andreasen in the first inning for a brief, 1-0 West Field lead. Hailee Ellsworth and Quinn Garrett each hit one double for the Longhorns.
SPRINGVILLE 2, CLEARFIELD 1
TAYLORSVILLE — Clearfield took a 1-0 lead into the sixth inning but No. 8 Springville (22-10) needed one swing to send No. 5 Clearfield to a bitter end in a 5A elimination game Tuesday afternoon.
Allyx Haveron singled to lead off the top of the sixth for Springville and Mary Finlayson homered to center, turning that 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead. Haveron also doubled and got the win in the circle, spreading nine hits across seven innings.
In the seventh, Clearfield (19-7) got two-out singles from Alexandra Bingham and Lyla Leonhardt to get the tying run in scoring position but Haveron pitched Emma Dishongh into an infield pop-out to end the game.
Eva Salazar batted 3 for 3 for the Falcons. Dishongh and Salazar singled with one out in the fourth, leading to a Brynn Nichols RBI single for the 1-0 lead. Haveron struck out two from there to get out of the jam.
Hannah Hensley took the hard-luck loss for Clearfield, allowing two earned runs on five hits in seven innings.
