On Saturday afternoon, after a big win over North Sanpete, Emery advanced to the championship game. They would need two straight wins over the Grantsville Cowboys to win the championship. The 2A and 3A teams were all honored before the game for making it this far in the tournament.
The game was scoreless in the first inning. Going into the bottom of the second, Katelyn Nielson sent out her second home run of the tournament, putting the Lady Spartans on the board.
Rhegan Rhoten, Elli Stoker and Tailynn Minchey would all get walked to load the bases for Emery. Kali Jensen stepped to the plate with two outs on the board. She was down for the count, but stayed composed and was also walked. As the runners were advancing, Grantsville threw the ball away, scoring another run for Emery.
The lead was now 3-0, with runners on second and third. Another heads-up play happened as Minchey had a big lead at third and decided to go for it to steal home. It was a successful steal, as the inning would eventually end, with a 4-0 lead for Emery.
The Cowboys would get on the board, scoring a run in the top of the third. Emery would match them, adding on a run as well in the inning, with a score of 5-1.
In the top of the fourth, Grantsville tacked on four runs in the inning, as well as one more in the top of the fifth. Emery scored again in the bottom of the sixth, tying the game at 6.
Both teams were unable to score in the seventh inning, bringing the game into extra innings. In the eighth, Grantsville had runners on first and second with no outs in the inning. Brooklyn Ekker made a nice play, forcing the runner out at third. The Cowboys then laid down a perfect bunt, Emery would get them out at first, as the Cowboys sent the runner home for the score. The inning would end after the gutsy call from Grantsville, as they would take the lead.
The Lady Spartans were back up to the plate, with the extra-inning runner placed on second base. After a grounder, the runner advanced to third, as Emery would get their first out of the inning. The Grantsville pitcher would then earn the strikeout, giving Emery two outs in the inning with the tying run on third.
Minchey would score the tying run with a nice hit to right field, earning a double and a chance to be the winning run. Alexis Ungerman would outrun the throw to first, as she would get on base, advancing Minchey to third. The game would end up going into the ninth inning after the Lady Spartans third out in the bottom of the inning.
Emery would have feelings of Déjà vu, as Grantsville once again rallied in the late inning, putting up four runs in the top of the ninth inning. Emery would score one more, but they couldn’t catch up to Grantsville, as the Cowboys would win the 3A state championship in an absolutely wild and emotional game.
Nielson led the team with a .472 batting average. The junior also led in home runs with eight, hits with 42, RBIs with 33 and a .887 slugging percentage. Ekker led the team in runs with 34 and doubles with ten. She also had a .421 batting average, 40 hits, 26 RBIs and two home runs. Madi Bunnell ended the season with 30 runs, 25 hits, 17 RBIs, four double and three home runs.
Johnson finished the year batting .348 with 33 runs, 32 hits, 12 RBIs four doubles and two triples. Jensen finished the year batting .418 with 30 runs, 38 hits, 23 RBIs, four doubles and four triples. Rhoten ended the year with a .333 batting average, 27 hits, 21 RBIs, six doubles and four home runs.
Kallee Lake was excellent on the mound this year, finishing with 105 strikeouts with a 2.03 ERA. Minchey ended the year with 22 runs, 18 hits, 10 RBIs and six doubles. Ungerman finished the year with 17 runs, 17 hits, five RBIs and four doubles.
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- Photo by Maxwell Misner
