This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Murray • Chances are pretty fair that the Region 6 softball comes down to Murray and Cyprus by season's end. If true, Tuesday's game portends a close race.
Murray (5-4, 2-0) parlayed its home field advantage to a 7-6 victory over the visiting Pirates when Cassidy Howe lofted a one-out sacrifice fly to center to score Preslee Jensen in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Jensen tied the game at 6 earlier in the inning when she hit a double to right-center to drive home Jennie Anderson, who started the at-bat with a single.
"For some reason or another, we just weren't real confident at the plate," Spartans coach Lisa Parker said. "Their pitcher (Alexis Poulsen), she threw a great game. We just came off of spring break and didn't hit much in practice yesterday."
The final rally over the last two innings helped Murray overcome a 6-3 deficit to Cyprus (3-3, 2-1).
Bailey Touhuni, with the game tied at 3, led off the Pirates' fifth with a single. With two outs, Poulsen drew a walk and she was followed by Daniele Sanchez, who singled in a run after Touhuni had scored on a wild pitch. Sanchez would later score on a throwing error by the Spartans to make it 6-3 Cyprus.
"I told the girls, going into the sixth inning, that three runs was nothing and they could get it back," said first-year Cyprus coach Vanessa James. "We needed to rally the bats and the bats didn't really work in the last two innings. The girls battled really hard in that game. Just a little setback, but nothing we can't handle."
Erin Hohnholt handled the pitching duties for Murray to start the game, but she was relieved by Ali Jennings in the fifth. Poulsen struck out 10 batters in a complete game for Cyprus.
The Spartans' comeback started in the sixth inning with a two-RBI single by Emma Noble.
"I'm gonna say that Cyprus is probably our biggest competition in region because that pitcher, well she's a good solid pitcher," Parker said of Poulsen.