San Juan softball advances as Monticello season ends

by Rhett Sifford
Sports Editor
The San Juan and Monticello softball teams endured road trips for just one game each this past Saturday, May 4 to open the 2024 2A Utah State Tournament. The games ended with opposite results for the two rivals.
Seventh-ranked San Juan was in Duchesne to face #10 Milford and the Lady Broncos took down the Lady Tigers in exciting fashion. The game was a tight battle for almost its entirety.
San Juan took an early 4-0 lead, scoring two runs in the bottom of the first inning and two more in the second. Milford got on the board with a one-run top of the fourth, cutting the San Juan lead to 4-1.
The Lady Tigers plated three runs in the top of the sixth inning to tie the game at 4-all, but the Lady Broncos promptly crushed any comeback hopes for Milford when they scored 11 runs in the bottom of the sixth to walk off with a shocking 15-4 mercy rule win.
Trinity Whatcott had an excellent day on the mound and at the plate, and that has become a very common statement this season. Offensively she was 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs.
Averie Gilson was a perfect 2-for-2 with a double, a triple, four RBIs, and two runs scored. Miley Harrison had a great day, going 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored.
Synessa Atcitty and Madden Perkins were both 1-for-3 on the day with one RBI apiece. Atcitty scored two runs for the Lady Broncos and Perkins got one.
Elizabeth Palmer drove in two San Juan runs and scored two despite going 0-for-2 in the game. And Morgann McPherson scored one run and drove one in.
Whatcott’s effort on the mound looked a lot more “lights-out” before the Milford scored three on her in the top of the sixth, but it was an excellent day all the same. She struck out six and walked four, allowing four runs on four hits in five innings of work.
But it was sophomore Khatira Keith sneaking in to close out the win, pitching one inning of relief and striking out two of the four batters she faced.
San Juan advances to the second round as the 2A state tournament shifts to Spanish Fork for its duration beginning Thursday, May 9.
It’s a tough matchup against the #2 Duchesne Lady Eagles with the first pitch set for 12:15 p.m. The winner advances to the state quarterfinals where they’ll face the winner of the game between #3 South Sevier and #6 Beaver.
That quarterfinal game is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. on Friday, May 10. The loser would drop to the one-loss bracket to take on #9 Gunnison Valley Thursday afternoon at 2:30 p.m.
For the Monticello softball team it was a tough conclusion to the season in their state play-in game against #14 North Sevier in Monroe this past Saturday.
The Lady Buckaroos began the game with the lead, scoring two runs in the first inning and one in the second to go up 3-1. But the Lady Wolves took the lead with a four-run bottom half of the second.
They added four runs in the bottom of the fourth and four more in the bottom of the fifth to close out a 13-3 mercy-rule win, ending Monticello’s chances to advance to the state tournament.
Junior Taylor Barry was a solid 3-for-2 at the plate for Monticello with two doubles and an RBI. Madi Snyder had the other hit for the Lady Bucks in the loss.
Millie Morrison and Tessa Slade both registered an RBI apiece. Barry struck out seven batters in a tough outing on the mound.
Monticello ends the year with an 0-17 record in their second season since going several years without a softball team.
Player statistics are incomplete on MaxPreps but in the 14 games reflected Taylor Barry was far and away the offensive leader for the team. She carried a .389 batting average, going 7-for-18 on the year.
She hit two home runs, two doubles, and a triple. She also drove in 12 Lady Buck runs, which accounts for half of the team’s RBIs on the season. On the mound Barry struck out 36 batters this season, almost 11 percent of the batters she faced.
Millie Morrison was 4-for-22 for a .182 batting average with two RBIs. Gracey Bylilly hit .167, going 4-for-24 with two RBIs. Nicole Francom was also 4-for-24 on the year.
Madi Snyder was 3-for-16 for a .188 average, Dakota Halliday was 1-for-4 this season with one RBI, and Tessa Slade went 1-for-13 with an RBI.
The Lady Buckaroos stole 17 bases this year. Millie Morrison and Nicole Francom were the most prolific with five apiece. Gracey Bylilly stole four bases, Taylor Barry snagged two, and Jocelyn Francom got one.