Taylorsville's tough offense too much for Riverton

TAYLORSVILLE — After losing a game to Bingham in extra innings, it would have been understandable if the Taylorsville softball team was a little nervous about facing offensively loaded Riverton.

Instead, the young players said it only motivated them to play better.

"I just wanted to hit the ball better," said junior Marqi Gray, who went 3-for-3 in smacking three doubles in the 5-4 win. "She was a good pitcher, and we knew that."

Jessie Cozzens threw a solid game, but the Warriors showed how tough their offense can be with eight hits in the game, including four doubles. One of those, by Nicole Huntsman, drove in three of the four runs scored in the bottom of the fifth inning.

"They're a great hitting team," said Warriors head coach Rich Kaelin of the second-ranked Silverwolves. "They only had five hits, but four of them were home runs." Two of those game by second baseman Kylie Haimin in her first two at-bats. She popped up in her third appearance at the plate, but Taylorsville catcher Cyd Allen made a diving catch to get her out.

Then the next batter, Brooke Olson, walked to the plate and hit the next pitch over the centerfield fence. Kaelin said his pitchers are learning that putting a ball anywhere in the middle is a very dangerous move.

"Against a good team, it's going to get ripped," he said.

Kaelin said the team's attitude was very positive going into the game Tuesday despite blowing a big lead against Bingham last Thursday.

"After what happened with Bingham, it was fun for us to come back and win the game," he said. "These girls are young and they're going to make mistakes, but our goal is just to get better and better each game. Neither team was at their very best today, but we're learning from our mistakes."

In addition to Olson and Haimin, Amanda Jensen hit a home run in the sixth inning. The game ended with a great defensive play by shortstop Tia Palauni, who made a fielded a grounder and then stepped on second and threw out the Riverton runner for a double play.

Huntsman said the team didn't even get discouraged when the only hits Riverton seemed to get were over the fence.

"We just got together and kept each other up," she said. "Everyone was more relaxed today."

Kaelin said the team's chemistry is good and their work ethic is even better.

"That's the fun thing about this team," he said. "They want to get better; they want to grow."

---

E-mail: adonaldson@desnews.com