Lady Broncos finish regular season on a tear, eye a run in 2A tourney

by Rhett Sifford
Sports Editor
The San Juan High School softball team played a flurry of games in Millcreek to close out their regular season this past Friday and Saturday, April 25-26. With four wins and one loss they finished with a 14-14 overall record.
The Lady Broncos opened the weekend with a 2A North region doubleheader against Rowland Hall at the Larry H. Miller Softball Complex. They dispatched the Lady Winged Lions easily, 17-2 and 16-0.
Six San Juan players were perfect at the plate in game one as they dominated in a three-inning affair. Colee Crofts was 2-for-2 with four RBIs, including a home run. Keegan Palmer was 2-for-2 with three RBIs.
Miley Harrison was 2-for-2 with one RBI. Madden Perkins and Kheirra Keith were both 1-for-1, driving in one run apiece. And Elizabeth Palmer was 1-for-1 and scored two runs.
Morgann McPherson wasn’t perfect at the plate, but she had a banner game nonetheless. The San Juan junior collected a triple and a double while going 2-for-3 and driving in three.
San Juan scored 17 runs on 11 hits in the 17-2 victory. Kheirra Keith was the winning pitcher, allowing just one earned run on three hits while striking out nine of the 17 batters she faced in three innings.
Game two against Rowland Hall was just as easy for the Lady Broncos as they racked up 16 runs on 18 hits to smother the Lady Winged Lions in three innings once again.
Averie Gilson led the offensive onslaught with two home runs and two doubles. The San Juan junior was a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate and drove in five runs.
Madden Perkins was perfect at the plate again, going 2-for-2 with a homer, a double, and two RBIs. Elizabeth Palmer was 1-for-1 and her hit was also a dinger.
Morgann McPherson also hit a home run for San Juan and was 2-for-3 with two RBIs. If you’re counting, that was five home runs for the Lady Broncos in the win.
Keegan Palmer was 2-for-2 with an RBI. Colee Crofts was 2-for-3 and drove in one run. And freshman Arianna Adams went 1-for-1 with a triple and an RBI.
Averie Gilson was almost unhittable on the mound. She struck out six Rowland Hall batters, allowing no runs on just two hits in the win.
Following the doubleheader sweep, San Juan played the tough Bingham Lady Miners to open the Swing for Life Breast Cancer Awareness Tournament, also played at the Larry Miller Softball Complex.
Bingham is a top-five 6A softball team, so the Lady Broncos had their hands full from the start in their third game of the day. Freshman Kendra Hintze pitched a three-inning gem for the Lady Miners, no-hitting San Juan and striking out six of the nine batters she faced.
Bingham plated one baserunner in the first inning, five in the second, and four in the third to down San Juan 10-0. The Lady Broncos got some good rest after a very busy day, however, and were ready to go when day two of the tournament began on Saturday.
The second game of the tourney was a battle for San Juan against one of the best 3A teams in the state – Providence Hall. The Lady Broncos got off on the right foot, scoring four runs in their first at-bat to take a 4-1 lead.
The teams traded runs in the second and third innings and San Juan’s lead was 6-4 heading into the top of the fifth. That’s when the girls mustered three runs to take a commanding 9-4 lead.
The Lady Patriots plated one baserunner in the bottom of the fifth, but San Juan held them scoreless in the sixth to secure a very nice 9-5 victory over a tough team.
Averie Gilson led the Lady Bronco charge with three hits in as many at-bats, two RBIs, and two runs scored. Elizabeth Palmer was 2-for-3 with an RBI, while Sadie Cosby and Khatira Keith were both 2-for-4 with one RBI each.
Keegan Palmer and Madden Perkins both collected one hit and one RBI apiece. Khatira Keith earned a hard-fought win on the mound with a complete six-inning effort. She allowed just two earned runs on six hits and struck out four.
It didn’t get any easier for the Lady Broncos in the third and final game of the Swing for Life Tournament when they came up against 5A #8 Taylorsville. But San Juan finished the weekend and regular season very strong.
Trailing 4-1 as they headed to the plate in the bottom of the fourth inning, the Lady Broncos exploded for six runs, seizing control of the game 7-4. They held the Lady Warriors scoreless in their next two at-bats to grab another upset win and big momentum heading into the postseason.
San Juan scored their seven runs on six hits. Morgann McPherson drove in four with an inside-the-park grand slam in that loud fourth inning. Averie Gilson was 1-for-1 with one RBI.
Kheirra Keith earned another win in a strong five-inning outing. She allowed no earned runs on a minuscule two hits and struck out five Taylorsville batters.
San Juan overcame a tough 4-13 start to the season, winning ten of their last 11 regular season games. They’re on a four-game winning streak as they enter the postseason.
San Juan Head Coach Mike Bowers expressed his excitement about how the team played this past weekend and where they are as a team heading into the state tournament.
“We’re peaking at the right time,” he explained. “Our girls’ recovery time after mistakes or errors has improved tremendously.
“I think they are in a great spot mentally,” he continued. “They believe in each other. One word to describe this team is ‘grit.’ They don’t ever give up; the fight remains in them constantly.”
Before the RPI standings were taken offline the Lady Broncos were 11th in the 2A standings, so it’s likely they’ll skip the first round of the state tournament this weekend.
But they will be on the road for a second-round game where they’ll face a higher-seeded team on Saturday, May 3. If they can secure a win, they’ll move into the third round at the Spanish Fork Softball Complex on May 8.