This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Spanish Fork • Pink is not all that uncommon these days in the regular season as sports teams routinely honor those battling cancer with the color.

But South Summit took it to the next level in the Class 2A softball state championship on Monday and, if the final result has any sway, the Wildcats may just continue to wear pink trimmed with the school's traditional green.

South Summit (27-6) beat San Juan 6-1 in the winner-take-all battle as the 'Cats rode the play of Hannah Peterson to the title.

Peterson belted a home run in the fourth for the game's first run and then held down the Broncos, allowing only four hits as the winning pitcher.

"This is an unbelievable group to work with. They've worked hard for four years," said South Summit coach Cody Bowen, who had a senior-heavy group as the starting core.

Eight of the Wildcats' regulars, in fact, were playing their last day in a South Summit uniform — which, at least on this day, was bright pink in honor of Bowen's wife Melanie.

Melanie Bowen has been fighting cancer during a large portion of the current players' time at the school,, but she was right in the middle of the celebration at the end of the day.

"My wife right here has been battling breast cancer for two-and-a-half years and my girls have been supportive of that," Bowen said.

It was the school's first championship. South Summit played in the championship game in 2010, but lost to Grand. On Monday, the Wildcats actually had to beat San Juan twice as the Broncos entered the day with no losses in the double-elimination tournament.

San Juan (19-10) had handed South Summit its only loss of the tournament with a 5-3 win on Friday.

"All of us hit much better today," Peterson said. "During that game, I don't think we were as intense. Coming into today, we were ready."

"She's the best player in 2A. She's a gamer — a heckuva pitcher, a heckuva hitter," said Bowen of Peterson. "She's the MVP of 2A in my opinion."

One huge key to the day, which included South Summit's earlier 12-5 blowout to force the second contest, was figuring out how to control San Juan's Tatiana Su'e Su'e.

After Su'e Su'e clubbed a two-run homer in the first inning of the first game, South Summit's solution to that facet of her game was simply to take the bat out of her hands. The next six times she came to the plate, Su'e Su'e was intentionally walked every time.

"Softball's a big strategy game," San Juan coach Craig Swenson said. "And it paid off for 'em."

Su'e Su'e was also the starting pitcher in the first game on Monday, after being the winning hurler in the game Friday.

But the Wildcats were collectively all over the Weber State-bound standout with the stick. Peterson belted an opposite-field double to deep left in the second inning for a pair of runs. Before the first game was over, Peterson went deep for one of four homers off Su'e Su'e as teammates Tyler James, Elise Bush and McKay Woolstenhulme all joined the hit parade.

Eventually, South Summit drove Su'e Su'e from the pitching circle as the Broncos' Jessica Swenson finished the first game Monday and pitched all of the second.

"We were all ready for it. We know what we're all capable of. We know we can hit the ball," James said. "Tatiana - she was going to come. We've always kind of struggled with her and we just had a talk. If we wanted this that bad, then we had to get on her.

"This is the greatest feeling. We've been playing with each other since we were like in second grade," the senior added. "To build this and come together and win it as sisters, there's no way to explain it." —

Storylines

• South Summit captures its first softball championship in school history by beating San Juan twice at the Class 2A tournament on Monday.

• Wildcats' senior Hannah Peterson pitches a complete game 6-1 win in the finale as well as hitting a solo homer.

• Peterson, Elise Bush, Tyler James and McKay Woolstenhulme all blast home runs in a 12-5 first game victory to force the second to be played.