Baseball, softball teams conclude regular seasons

by Rhett Sifford
Sports Editor
The San Juan and Monticello high school baseball and softball teams all concluded their regular seasons in the past few days and now they await the final RPI standings and state tournament bracket reveals.
The matchups for the first round of the teams’ respective state tournaments won’t be released by the Utah High School Activities Association until Wednesday morning, too late for the San Juan Record print deadline.
The San Juan baseball team closed their regular season with a long road trip for two doubleheaders this past week, at South Sevier on Wednesday, April 26 and at North Summit the following day.
When the week began San Juan was #4 in the 2A standings and South Sevier was #2. But by the time they met on Wednesday it was a matchup between the #5 and #1 teams in the state.
For the Broncos to have any hope of home games in the opening round of the state tournament, they needed at least one upset win over the Rams.
But South Sevier got big innings late in both games to beat San Juan 7-1 and 9-5. With a bitter taste in their mouths on Thursday the Broncos finished off the regular season with two thrashings of North Summit, 22-12 and 15-1.
The wins snapped a five-game losing streak for San Juan and now they need that momentum to carry over into the 2A state tournament. They enter the postseason with a 14-8 record.
At last update they were ranked fifth in the 2A ranks. Although that may change on Wednesday, it’s likely the Broncos will have to hit the road for the first round of the tournament.
They would play two games this Saturday, May 6. If they win both they would move on to the quarterfinals at BYU next Thursday, May 11. If they lose one of the games, they’ll resume play on Tuesday, May 9 at a location still to be determined.
The San Juan softball team won seven straight games to close out their regular season, including their 15-0 and 23-5 wins over Wayne in Bicknell this past Friday, April 28.
The Lady Broncos head into their state tourney with a 19-9 overall record and were poised to host a first round two-game round robin before the release of the final RPI standings. At last update they were fourth in the 2A softball standings.
The scenario is the same as previously stated for the baseball team, with the exception that there won’t be any games played on Tuesday. Instead, win or lose, as long as they don’t lose twice, San Juan will begin this Saturday, May 6, then continue play on Thursday, May 11.
The Monticello baseball team played the final games of their regular season at home, appropriately, in a doubleheader with North Summit on Tuesday, May 2, too late for our print deadline.
The Buckaroos were still looking for their first wins in 2A play this season and a little momentum headed into the postseason.
Heading into this week they were 1-11 on the year following a tough 15-2 loss in Dove Creek this past Tuesday, April 25.
Based on the Bucks’ ranking before the standings were taken offline they would travel for a two-game round robin to start the state tournament, possibly in the same four-team group as San Juan.
The Monticello softball team also concluded their regular season on Tuesday with a road doubleheader against North Sevier.
It was the second day of the two-day road trip west that saw the Lady Buckaroos swept in a doubleheader at Altamont on Monday, May 1 in strangely identical 30-19 finals.
Since I reported that the Lady Bucks wouldn’t qualify for the state tournament if their standing in the 2A ranks didn’t improve last week, the Activities Association made some changes to their 2A softball bracket
Now it appears they’ll let Monticello into the tournament regardless of where they finish in the standings. The team will have a play-in game at 10 a.m. this Saturday at a site to be determined when the final standings are released on Wednesday.