From Deseret News archives:
A little yelling lifts Riverton to victory
Put a softball mitt on her hand, however, and she can't quit yelling.
"It's just a softball thing," the senior said laughing after her third-ranked team stayed unbeaten in region play with a 4-3 win over West Jordan. "It helps us . . . I feel more in the game when I'm talking. Actually, I'm pretty quiet. I don't know what it is."
Her coach doesn't care why Haimin, or Koo as she's called on the dirt, comes out of her shell on the field, but she's grateful she does.
"It makes a big difference to our team," said Riverton coach Emily Cederholm. "It affects our energy as a team. We had a game where everyone was kind of quiet, and we just stayed even-keel the whole time. Even-keel isn't good enough, and we can always count on Koo to get us going."
She certainly did that with both her chanting and her playing, which included a double play in the bottom of the seventh inning that likely saved the game for the Silverwolves. The West Jordan batter up just after the double play, which cleared the bases, got on base with a single, and then sophomore Jullianne Tialavea smashed a home run over the left-field fence, which put the Jaguars within a run of the Silverwolves.
"We hit well, but we made too many errors," said West Jordan coach Carlson Boudroux. "That's a good softball team, but you can't make eight errors and beat anyone. We've got to finish."
Injuries have plagued the Jaguars, but Boudroux said the squad is trying to focus on their ultimate goal this season — the state tournament.
"If we eliminate some errors, we're going to win these games," he said. "We're right there . . . We have three region games left, and we have to keep competing."
The Silverwolves made some line-up changes a few weeks ago, including one that put freshman Amanda Jensen at shortstop.
"We were worried about our chemistry, and we were reluctant to make changes because we were winning," said Cederholm. "But we wanted to put what we thought was the best team out on the field. We're just trying to put the team first, and the girls have accepted all of the changes really well."
E-mail: adonaldson@desnews.com
