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An Orem baserunner gets tagged out at home during the Region 8 game against Uintah in Orem on Tuesday, April 9, 2024.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Orem sophomore Niesha Harmon swings at a pitch during the Region 8 game against Uintah in Orem on Tuesday, April 9, 2024.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Orem junior Kailey Pay throws a pitch during the Region 8 game against Uintah in Orem on Tuesday, April 9, 2024.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Orem senior Yeluanmy Alvarado catches a fly ball during the Region 8 game against Uintah in Orem on Tuesday, April 9, 2024.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Orem sophomore Niesha Harmon tries to slide into second base during the Region 8 game against Uintah in Orem on Tuesday, April 9, 2024.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Orem sophomore Kiley Hoshnic throws a pitch during the Region 8 game against Uintah in Orem on Tuesday, April 9, 2024.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Orem junior Hayley Finch throws the ball during the Region 8 game against Uintah in Orem on Tuesday, April 9, 2024.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Orem players talk things over during the Region 8 game against Uintah in Orem on Tuesday, April 9, 2024.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

❮ ❯

The Orem softball team found itself locked in a close game with Uintah in the top of the fourth inning in Orem on Tuesday afternoon.

The Tigers led 2-1 and got two quick outs, but the Utes tied the game with a couple of hits.

Uintah then hit a playable infield grounder — and suddenly the wheels came off for Orem.

That was the first of four Tiger miscues in the frame, which allowed Uintah to plate nine more runs (including a 3-run home run and a grand slam) as the visitors built a daunting 11-2 lead before Orem could get the final out.

That type of disastrous inning could be simply too much for many teams to handle — but not this Tiger squad.

Orem refused to back down, holding the Utes scoreless for the rest of the game as the Tigers got the bats going to chip away at the deficit.

By the bottom of the sixth inning, the Uintah lead was down to a single run and Orem had chances to tie or take the lead. In the end, however, Utes got the key outs they needed to hold on for the 11-10 victory over the Tigers.

“That’s been our story this year,” Orem head coach Pablo Valdez said. “We are lights out with the bats but come up short on defense. When you give a good team like Uintah three, four or five chances in an inning, it’s going to take advantage.”

He said that the season has had a lot of games that have been slugfests “like Rocky.”

“We hit it, they hit it,” Valdez said. “I mean I feel like with the bats we have, we’ll play with anybody. We get down and I’m not worried because our bats will always come through. But the other side of the coin is that our defense has been missing.”

He explained that his Tigers need to have someone come up with a key play to limit big innings like the one Uintah put together.

“You need someone to do something, either something routine or make a diving play, just something to give us a spark because it will snowball when an error happens,” Valdez said. “All of a sudden they get a little blooper here and then it just keeps going and going. It takes someone out there with that leadership to push through that.”

Once Orem got out of the inning, though, junior pitcher Kailey Pay came in strong and kept the Utes from adding to their lead.

And the Tigers started scoring, putting up two runs in the bottom of the fourth and then plating six runs of their own with a big sixth inning.

“They’ve been doing that all year,” Valdez said. “They expect that. They’re like, ‘OK, it’s time to turn on the bats now.’ We put up runs and so it’s just expected of us. There were a lot of good things that came out of the game today.”

Orem just needed one more big hit. The Tigers got the tying run to second in the sixth and to third in the seventh but couldn’t find a way to bring it home.

Although Tuesday’s game didn’t go Orem’s way, the Tigers have started Region 8 play with three wins in four games and Valdez believes they can keep it rolling.

“We’re going to be competitive in this region,” Valdez said. “We battled Timpanogos in a game that had a lot of runs. Payson is going to be our next test. It’s a competitive region, but we’re up for it. I would never ever, ever count us out. I love this team. It’s a great team.”

Orem (7-5 overall) now heads south to play the Lions in Payson on Thursday. That game is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m.

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