Fortunately for Salem Hills, it proved equal to its No. 1 seed, beating hard-charging Box Elder on consecutive days to enter the final day of the 5A state playoffs. The Skyhawks will now have two opportunities to win a single game versus West Jordan to take home the championship entering play on Thursday after advancing out of the top bracket.

To suggest getting to their current status was easy for the Skyhawks wouldn’t be close to being accurate, however.

The Bees gave Salem Hills all it could handle both on Tuesday night and on Wednesday afternoon. A dramatic walk-off grand slam hit off the bat of Leila Stevenson secured an 11-7 on Tuesday leading up to Wednesday’s game which saw the Skyhawks rally from being down 4-1 early to take a 9-5 victory.

“We got down and we just kept our composure,” said Salem Hills Coach Kaleb Stokes. “Box Elder made it very tough on us, but these girls just believed and got it done.”

Down 4-1 through three and a half innings played, the Skyhawks’ bats came alive in the bottom of the fourth.

Jocile Norman led off the scoring, slugging an RBI double with another runner scoring on a fielding error to cut the Bee’s lead to 4-3.  Shay Loveridge added an RBI single before Samaya Haveron brought two more runs home with a double to give the Skyhawks a 6-4 lead.

“We made a couple of substitutions in that inning, and those girls responded, particularly Shay Loveridge who got that big hit to tie things up,” Stokes said. “You love seeing girls respond like that when they’re called off the bench. We also forced some mistakes by speeding up a runner or two and everyone got involved. You have to have everyone involved to get where we want to be and we definitely got that today.”

Box Elder responded with a run scored in the top of the fifth to cut the lead to 6-5, but RBI hits from both Emmery Wilson and Audree Stokes in the bottom of the sixth gave the Skyhawks all the cushion they’d need to close it out the game. Performing the closing efforts was Norman, who only allowed one runner on base through her final two innings pitched.

“Jo really wanted to come in and close things out. She wants those moments,” Stokes said. “Jo and Keyana (Murray) were a great one-two punch for us today and I couldn’t be prouder of both of them.”

Murray pitched the first five innings, and despite having single runs scored against her in every inning pitched, she dug deep and battled hard to limit the damage.

“Keyana is amazing,” Stokes said. “She doesn’t let things rattle her. She had some weird things happen to her today that she really didn’t have control over, but she didn’t let it get to her. She just battled and I couldn’t be prouder of her and how she performed as a senior today. She was huge for us.”

Lehi comes up just short

Lehi started off the day with a thrilling 4-3 extra-inning win over Herriman before taking a tough 11-2 loss to top-seeded Riverton in 6A tournament action.

Leading the way for the Pioneers in their win was Piper Emery, who not only slugged a 2-run home run in the third inning to give her team a 3-2 lead, but then walked things off in the bottom of the eighth with an RBI single.

“She’s just a sophomore, but she really is the heart and soul of our team right now,” said Lehi Coach Tim Kennedy. “She catches for us, calls great games for us and she’s an awesome player.”

Also just a sophomore, Abbi Houron proved a standout from the circle, pitching the Pioneers to the win.

“We have a young team with only two seniors, so I’m excited about what we’ve been able to do in this tournament,” Kennedy said. “We’ve had some very young girls step up big and it’s been great to see.”

Pleasant Grove doesn’t go down easy

Pleasant Grove faced a 9-2 deficit in its elimination game versus Mountain Ridge, but battled back big, scoring five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to cut the lead to 9-7. Unfortunately the rally there, leaving the Vikings disappointed but proud of the effort.

“This team doesn’t know how to quit and it’s been that way all year. We never give up, no matter what,” said Pleasant Grove Coach Leslie Young. “But unfortunately it’s softball and there has to be a winner and a loser. We came up short, but just a few things go the other way and it’s a different result. I couldn’t be prouder of this team and how they battled.”

Also taking a tough loss in its one game played was Maple Mountain, which came up on the losing end of a 4-0 result to Bountiful in 5A tournament action.