A showdown between Manti and Carbon took place on the softball fields on Tuesday. Manti has one of the strongest programs in the state and could very likely make another title run, which made for an exciting matchup.
The ball did not bounce the Lady Dino’s way early. Carbon scorched a few balls, which always managed to find Lady Templars’ gloves. Manti, on the other hand, produced weak contact but found open space on the field. The Lady Templars took advantage of their fortune with a 5-0 lead.
In the bottom of the fifth, Amya Prettyman got ahold of a 2-0 pitch and sent it sailing over the center field fence for a three-run home run. It was a timely, two-out hit that put the Lady Dinos back in the mix.
Unfortunately, Manti wasted no time and quickly scored two runs in both the sixth and seventh innings. Down 9-3 with one at-bat left, Carbon needed miracle to pull off the comeback.
The Lady Dinos started chipping away at the lead with their patience at the plate. Brooke Moosman and Mollie Horsely each walked to lead off the inning. Then, Graycie Hansen and Prettyman hit singles to make it 9-4 with the bases loaded. Giana Bruno saw her pop up fall to the ground, bringing one more run home for Carbon. Three more runs came across on a one-out error, making it 9-8 with the tying run on second. Carbon failed to bring home the potential tying run and dropped the contest 9-8.
Prettyman led the team, going 2-4 with a home run and three RBIs. Mollie Horsley reached base three times in four at-bats with two walks and a single. Brooke Moosman started in the circle and finished with five and two thirds innings pitched. She gave up 12 hits, seven runs, four earned runs and three walks while striking out three. Again, there was minimal hard contact, but the Lady Templars found good spots for their hits to drop.
Although the Lady Dinos came up just short of an epic comeback, they never quit and showed a lot of heart. That is something to build on for the future.
Carbon will head to St. George this weekend for a tournament. The Lady Dinos (1-1) will face Pine View (1-0) on Thursday, Salem Hills (2-1), Juab (0-2) and Dixie (2-3) on Friday, and Orem (3-0) and Mountain Ridge (2-1) on Saturday.
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- Photos by Jeff Barrett
