The two high-powered offenses of Carbon and Emery met face-to-face on Tuesday in a rivalry game that did not disappoint.
However, the contest did not begin as anticipated as only one hit was recorded between the two teams through the first two innings. Carbon broke the scoreless tie in the third with the bottom of the order up. Bryton Kimber led off with a hit and then stole second. Brooke Moosman rewarded Kimber’s steal when she hit Kimber home on a single to center. Kaytlyn Cripps then drove in a pair of Dinos later in the inning to take a 3-0 Carbon lead.
Emery responded in the bottom half of the inning. Mollee Hurst perfectly executed a suicide squeeze to plate the Spartan’s first run. Taleigh Price came up with the bases loaded and doubled on the first pitch to drive in two and tie the game at three. Adrianne Childs then hit a shot to the center fielder, who got a glove on it, but could not pull it in as Emery scored two more to go up 5-3.
Carbon’s Kimber got a hold of one with two-outs in the top of the fourth inning for a home run to inch closer to Emery. Then, in the fifth, Cripps came up with a runner and absolutely crushed the ball over the left-center fence, well past the first row of cars. Carbon took a 6-5 lead on the bomb. The Dinos would score one more time in the inning for a 7-5 advantage.
Again, Emery had a response. The Spartans loaded the bases with one out and sent Bailey Huggard to the plate. She drew a four-pitch walk for an RBI to get within one. Autumn Stilson was the next batter and she smacked a bases-clearing double to center as the Spartans regained the lead, 9-7.
Things really got interesting in the sixth. Allee Abeyta led off the inning with a double for the Lady Dinos. Mooseman then singled to shallow right to put runners on the corners as Carbon was knocking on the door. Clarissa Noyes was the next batter and popped out to third. Mooseman tagged up from first and headed to second. Reagan Rasmussen threw the ball on a line to Taleigh, who was covering the bag at second and applied the tag for out number two. In the meantime, Abeyta tried to score from third but Taleigh gathered the ball and threw a strike to the catcher, Hurst, who also tagged out the runner to complete an epic triple play.
With the same score in the seventh, Dekota Kraushaar led off Carbon’s last at bats with a walk. Cripps again came through for the Dinos with a triple but Kraushaar was caught in a pickle between third and home and was thrown out at the plate. Kennedy Nelson hit Cripps home on a ground out but Carbon could not overcome its late base-running blunders as Emery took the back and forth contest, 9-8.
Carbon’s Cripps had an excellent game at the plate going 4-4 with a triple, home run and four RBIs while Autumn Stilson went 3-3 for Emery. Kaylee Price picked up the win for the Lady Spartans. She went 4.1 innings and struck out three while giving up five earned runs.
Carbon (10-8, 3-1 Region 14) will continue on the road to play Juab (6-6, 3-1 Region 14) on Thursday. The Lady Spartans (10-7, 4-4 Region 15) will also head on the road on Wednesday to face North Sanpete (13-4, 5-2 Region 15).
-
- Photos by Dusty Butler
