Lady Broncos close season with 24 wins

by Rhett Sifford
Sports Editor
The San Juan High School softball team has dominated 2A play this season, and in the past week they added seven more wins to their already impressive collection.
The Lady Broncos swept a doubleheader at Kanab on April 21, beating the Lady Cowboys 15-0 and 14-2. This past weekend the girls played in the annual Swing for Life Tournament in Salt Lake City.
At that tournament San Juan was nearly unbeatable. They defeated North Summit, Skyline, East, Providence Hall, and Murray, outscoring those opponents by a combined score of 54-0.
Unfortunately they did suffer one loss on their road trip in a 6-4 final against Hunter in the final game of the tourney and the closing game of the regular season.
The Lady Broncos sport a very impressive 24-2 overall record and it’s likely they’ll enter the 2A Utah State Tournament as the top seed when the bracket is released on Wednesday, April 29.
It has been a breakout year for San Juan with their best record since the 2013 season when they won 24 games and the 2A State Championship.
Now the Lady Broncos are looking to break through in a way they haven’t been able to in the past few seasons – with their first title since that 2013 season.
Last season the team dropped into the one-loss bracket very early when they suffered a disappointing first round loss to Grand County.
In 2024 they made it to the state quarterfinals, but were eliminated in back-to-back losses. Their best run in recent seasons came in 2023 when they came up two wins short of making it to the state championship game.
San Juan has indeed been building toward this moment and are poised to make a deep run in this year’s edition of the state tournament.
To find success they’ll have to rely on the strong pitching they’ve gotten all season long from freshman Ella Stearns and senior Khatira Keith.
Stearns sports a 9-0 record, has won nine of her 13 appearances, and has a stingy 1.95 earned run average, which is 12th-best in the state.
She has allowed just 35 hits and 32 runs – only 14 earned – while striking out 87 batters in just over 50 innings of work.
Equally, Keith has a 9-2 record, winning nine of her 16 appearances. She has a 4.31 ERA and has allowed 66 hits and 54 runs (31 earned) while striking out 66 batters in 50.1 innings.
The Lady Broncos have also gotten quality work from Kheiarra Keith, who has pitched 22.1 innings, allowing 25 hits and 17 runs while striking out 15 batters.
Averie Gilson has also been an asset on the mound for San Juan with over ten innings of strong relief work. Pitching is truly where it all starts in softball, but those pitchers need a little run support also.
The team has not suffered in that department this season. Numerous Lady Broncos have consistently contributed to the offense throughout the year.
The roster features three girls batting above .500 and seven above .400. Ella Stearns leads the way with a .586 average with 41 hits, 41 runs batted in, and 26 runs scored. Her RBIs are tied for 12th-most in the state, as are her nine home runs.
Khatira Keith is right behind with a .533 average. She has 40 hits, 24 RBIs, and ten runs scored. Madden Perkins is batting .518 with 43 hits, 27 RBIs, and a team-high 43 runs scored (tenth-most in the state).
Lizzie Palmer has a .485 average this season with 33 hits, 25 RBIs, and 34 runs scored. Kheiarra Keith is hitting .471 with 32 hits, 39 RBIs, and 26 runs scored.
Averie Gilson has 35 hits including eight home runs, 26 RBIs, 41 runs scored, and a .467 average. And Colee Crofts is batting .421 with 24 hits, 21 RBIs, and 23 runs scored.
Several more Lady Broncos have contributed big numbers offensively and helped their team to 24 wins. Miley Harrison has 21 hits, 30 RBIs, and 17 runs scored with a .375 batting average.
Morgann McPherson is hitting .309 with 21 hits, nine RBIs, and 24 runs scored. And Keegan Palmer has a .279 average with 17 hits, 20 RBIs, and 19 runs scored.
San Juan has gotten it done on the mound and in the batter’s box this season, but when they’ve needed to, they’ve also excelled on the basepaths.
Madden Perkins’s team-leading 28 stolen bases are tenth-most in the state. Brooklyn Lameman has 16 swipes while Lizzie Palmer and Morgann McPherson have 13 apiece.
Equally important as offense, the Lady Broncos have also had excellent defense, which is another key to their success in the upcoming state tournament.
Catcher Madden Perkins leads the team of course with a .967 fielding percentage and 188 putouts, which is second-most in the state.
McPherson has a .963 fielding percentage with 25 putouts, Stearns a .960 with 43 putouts, and Harrison a .889 with 24 putouts.
The 2A Utah State Softball Tournament bracket will be revealed on Wednesday, April 29 at approximately 10 a.m.
The Lady Broncos have earned a bye for the POD/Home Sites rounds and will advance directly to the Round of Eight at Spanish Fork on Thursday, May 7.
They’ll take on the winner of the game between the #8 and #9 seed and that very well could be the Grand County Lady Red Devils for the second year in a row.
Tune in to Redrock 92 Radio for updates on who the Lady Broncos will face and when. And we will eagerly follow the team’s progress through the tournament on the daily sports report May 7-9.