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St. George • Sunny, clear skies create ideal weather for most softball games — but not for Juab coach Alley Gee on Thursday afternoon.
Juan Diego opened with a five-run lead in the fourth inning in the second round of the Class 3A softball tournament, forcing the Wasps to put the game into the hands of sophomore sensation Taylei Williams, just to get them out of the inning. It appeared the damage had already been dealt. Yet, steadily and surely, Juab crept from the dungeons of defeat, using the brisk — and, at moments, aggressive — winds to create a tornado of frustration for the Soaring Eagle.
Trailing by one in the bottom of the seventh, Juab's Dakota Gee hit a catchable ball that swirled and twisted in the wind, dropping innocently into the left-field grass. The fielding error brought in two runs for the finishing touches in the come-from-behind 7-6 victory at The Fields at Little Valley.
"I'm thankful for the wind blowing, not going to lie," Gee said. "If not, I think they would have had it."
Williams traversed through a logjam in the fourth inning, ultimately surrendering two runs in a bases-loaded situation after relieving McCall Sperry. But of the 16 batters she faced after the fourth, she fanned nine, finishing with 11 K's overall.
"I always pitch to win," said Williams after noting both her fastball and screwball were her go-to pitches. "… I was a little nervous, but I knew if we relaxed, we would come back," Williams said.
Juab (22-3) advances to play Grantsville, which knocked off Canyon View, at 10 a.m. on Friday.
The Soaring Eagle (14-13) were positioned for an upset at the onset. Hunter Ware cracked a two-run homer with two outs in the first inning. Then, after Juab stole one run back on an error, JD returned the favor when Claire Haddick crossed home on a passed ball, extending the lead, 3-1, in the second.
Following the dreadful top half of fourth inning, Juab (22-3) started its ascension behind a two-run single by Savanna Greenhalgh in the bottom half. Sperry's RBI groundout clipped the deficit to 6-4 in the fifth, and then a passed ball narrowed the gap to 6-5 in the sixth.
"Earlier, we played our first round, and we were down 6-2. We came back and won in the ninth," Gee said. "… These girls have played together for so long, I don't think they have a 'die' in them."
Twitter: @trevorphibbs —
Juab 7, Juan Diego 6
R Juab overcomes a five-run deficit to stay alive in the winners' bracket.
• Taylei Williams finishes with 11 strikeouts in the final four innings.
• Hunter Ware hits a two-run homer in the loss for Juan Diego. -
3A scores and schedule
At St. George
THURSDAY
Winners bracket
• Stansbury 16, Snow Canyon 6
• Bear River 5, Uintah 1
• Juab 7, Juan Diego 6
• Grantsville 7, Canyon View 3
One-loss bracket
• Carbon 9, Canyon View 5
• Payson vs. Juan Diego
• Tooele 9, Uintah 4
• Snow Canyon 6, Union 1
FRIDAY
Winners bracket
• Stansbury vs. Bear River, 10 a.m.
• Juab vs. Grantsville, 10 a.m.
One-loss bracket
• Carbon vs. Payson/Juan Diego winner, 10 a.m.
• Tooele vs. Snow Canyon, TBA