ETV News stock photo by Jeff Barrett
Carbon dominated teams all year and was ready for a deep postseason run. After defeating Richfield 11-1 in the first round of the 3A State Softball Tournament, the Lady Dinos started last weekend’s tournament in the winners bracket.
#4 Carbon faced another familiar foe, #5 Grand, to start the games on Thursday. Home runs were Carbon’s Achilles’ heel as Grand scored six runs off the long ball. Carbon tried to keep pace, but fell 7-3. Three of the four homers were by Paige Shumway, one of Grand’s top players. Giana Bruno led the team in RBIs with two, while Haven Byerly completed the game in the circle.
Carbon then beat up on #11 Providence Hall 14-1 and #7 North Sanpete 12-1 to round off Thursday. On Friday, the Lady Dinos picked up where they left off with another big win over #2 South Summit, 13-4.
Lyndsey Madrigal got hot in that span and hit three homers while tallying eight RBIs. Giana Bruno also went deep and finished with seven ribbies. Brooke Moosman and Byerly were the two pitchers and they only gave up a combined four earned runs in the three games.
Carbon then had to take on Grand once more in an elimination game. Up 1-0, Carbon played small ball in the third with five singles. Stevie Oman’s triple brought home two runs to put Carbon up 6-0.
Walks in the fifth came back to bite the Dinos as Grand put up a five spot to tie the game at six runs apiece. With the same score in the seventh inning, Byerly pitched a clean frame to bring the Dinos to the plate. Makayla Scovill came through with the game-winning hit to walk it off and give Carbon the 7-6 victory.
Carbon represented one of the final three teams on Saturday. The Dinos needed to beat #1 Manti for a chance to play for the title. Down 2-0, the Lady Dinos finally got on the board in the sixth when Amya Prettyman and Oman hit back-to-back RBI singles to tie the game at two. Madrigal then broke the tie in the next inning to put Carbon on top 4-2.
The Dinos were unable to keep their lead as an error allowed Manti to tie the game and send it to extras. Carbon scored one run in the top of the eighth, but again could not close it out.
In the ninth, the Lady Dinos scored two more runs to take a 7-5 lead. Manti would just not go away, however, and another error helped the Templars come back. Manti plated three runs in the bottom of the ninth to take the game 8-7 and send Carbon home.
Byerly pitched nearly the entire game and only gave up two earned runs. The Dinos finished in third and saw their season come to a close with a 20-5 record.