Silver Wolves score 1st state softball title

COTTONWOOD — At times this season, Fremont fielders got a little bored as they waited for the one or two hits that might challenge their softball skills because they back up one of the state's toughest pitchers.

Luckily those skills weren't rusty, as they needed them against the hard-hitting Bingham Miners in the 5A state championship game Friday afternoon.

"That hasn't happened to us all season," said Silver Wolves coach Jim Fuller after Fremont won its first softball title in school history, 5-4, at the Cottonwood Complex. "I knew one run wouldn't be enough against this team. I thought three was enough, but I was mistaken. We didn't get to enjoy those runs for even 10 minutes."

Each team had seven hits, but Fremont's ability to string them together and a few Miner mistakes allowed the Silver Wolves to take a one-run lead in the title game. Fremont put up three runs in the first inning, but Bingham answered with three runs of their own in the top of the second.

Then Fremont scored on a sacrifice fly by Toni Schumers in the bottom of the fifth inning. Again, Bingham answered when Katie McBride scored on a single by Dani Ibrahim.

But in the bottom of the sixth inning, Heidi Scadden, who got on base with a single, scored in dramatic fashion. She was stealing second when the Bingham throw went into centerfield. She scored on the error, something neither coach could believe.

"We can't give up first to home on an overthrow," said Bingham coach Bob Lewis. He was, however, very proud of how his team bounced back after losing to Layton Wednesday and then making their way through the one-loss bracket. "They had to knock off three good teams yesterday, and Layton today," he said. Several of Bingham's players performed well in the tournament, but one of the best was senior Amber Sackett. This year she's played second base instead of sharing pitching duties with Bingham's main pitcher Summer Flores.

"To come off the bench and after not pitching all season, she pulled us out of all the games," he said. Sackett started at second base, but moved to the mound after Fremont's three-run first inning.

Fremont stuck with a pitcher who won games for them all season.

"Before today, she'd pitched five straight shutouts," said Fuller of Schumers, who had eight strikeouts. "We walked in and saw Bingham up 6-0 against Layton and I was thinking, 'Oh my heck. Bingham wants this (title)."'