×
×
homepage logo
SUBSCRIBE

Spanish Fork softball once again establishes itself as the team to beat in 5A, Skyridge surges in 6A

By Jared Lloyd - | May 11, 2022

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

Spanish Fork players celebrate with junior Peyton Hall (14) after she hit a home run during the Region 9 game against Wasatch in Spanish Fork on Tuesday, April 19, 2022.

The superpower and the upstart.

Those terms could be used to described a pair of softball teams who got the highest seeds in Utah Valley for the upcoming 5A and 6A state playoffs.

The superpower getting the top 5A seed shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, since few teams in any sport at any classification have been as dominant for as long as Spanish Fork has.

The upstart, however, is a Skyridge team that dominated Region 4 and got the No. 2 seed in the 6A playoffs.

The Dons have won five of the last 10 state titles awarded (no championships were held in 2020 due to the COVID-19 outbreak), including blasting through the competition on their way to the championship in 2021.

This year Spanish Fork had some tough games along the way, but its 21-4 record combined with its willingness to play great opponents put it significantly ahead of No. 2 seed Bonneville (20-4) and No. 3 seed Uintah (19-7).

While Bountiful was awarded the No. 4 spot, the next five teams will all represent Regions 8 and 9 as Wasatch (18-8), Springville (17-9), Lehi (19- 10), Salem Hills (17-8) and Timpanogos (16-6) got the next spots.

Of those teams, only the Timberwolves will play in the regionals round since the Top 8 teams all get byes to the super-regionals.

The teams with seedings higher than No. 16 — including No. 17 Payson, No. 18 Maple Mountain, No. 23 Timpview and No. 26 Mountain View — will all play in single-elimination first round games at home sites on Friday.

No. 33 Provo will face No. 32 Highland at 1:30 p.m. at Payson, with the winner then facing the Lions right afterwards.

The 5A teams that emerge victorious in those first-round games will then be re-seeded and move on to the regional round, where they will play best-of-three series to determine who advances. The first game will be played on Saturday at home sites, with the second game and third games (when necessary) being played on Monday.

That same process will be followed for the super-regional round, which will take place at home sites on May 19 and 20.

While Spanish Fork’s success is almost expected at this point, that isn’t the case for Skyridge. The Falcons have never been seeded higher than No. 8, which was their spot last year.

This year, however, Skyridge’s 20-5 record and solid success from its opponents resulted in the Falcons coming in second in the 6A ratings percentage index (RPI) standings. Although they weren’t close to top-seeded Riverton, Skyridge had a decent edge on No. 3 Bingham.

It was Westlake that got the No. 8 spot, while Pleasant Grove was No. 11 and Lone Peak was No. 15.

Since there are fewer teams in Class 6A, there are no play-in games.

That means the Vikings and Knights will host regionals (taking on No. 22 seed Syracuse and No. 18 seed Davis respectively) in best-of-three series on Saturday and Monday for a spot in the super-regionals.

The teams will be re-seeded after the regional round, meaning Skyridge will host the second-lowest seed and Westlake will host the highest seed that make it through, regardless of position on the bracket.

The super-regionals will take place on May 19 and 20 at home sites.

In both 5A and 6A, the winners of the super-regionals will make it to the double-elimination bracket play with it being re-seeded once again.

The first two rounds of the bracket play will take place at the Cottonwood Complex on May 24 and 25 with the best-of-three finals being played at BYU on May 26 and 27.

For complete details on the RPI rankings and the 5A and 6A brackets, go to http://UHSAA.org.

Newsletter

Join thousands already receiving our daily newsletter.

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)