High school softball: Roy's Jachim stifles Braves

BOUNTIFUL — Roy pitcher Krystin Jachim faced a few sticky situations in the late innings of her team's first-place showdown with Bountiful on Friday afternoon. Partly because of some missed spots, and partly because of some defensive lapses, she had a total of five runners reach base in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings.

But in each instance, she closed the door on the Braves.

Jachim tossed her best overall game of the year to lead the Royals to a 3-1 win over Bountiful. The win improved unranked Roy's league record to 4-0 and gave it sole possession of first place in Region 5. Fifth-ranked Bountiful dropped to 3-1.

In both the fifth and sixth innings, Bountiful had base runners reach second and third with one out. In the fifth, Jachim recorded a strikeout and got the Braves' Taylor Austin to pop up to third. In the sixth, she struck out consecutive batters.

The pressure of getting out of the jams hardly fazed her.

"I knew that I could finish well enough that they wouldn't get a good hit off of me," Jachim said. "And if they did hit, I got a good defense behind me. I wasn't really worried at all."

The Royals" coaching staff rarely has to worry when Jachim is in the circle. Against Bountiful, she recorded 11 strikeouts while allowing just four hits.

"She's an all-state pitcher and we expect that kind of performance," said Roy assistant coach Travis Flint. "We put her in some bad situations, but she stepped up and made pitches when she needed to. She threw the heck out of it."

Jachim proved that she isn't just a frontrunner against Bountiful, as the Braves took the game's first lead. Austin hit an RBI double in the third to give the Braves a 1-0 lead.

Roy responded in the fifth when Taler Clements hit a double. Freshman MaCauley Flint, who threw a no-hitter against Sky View on Thursday, then drove Clements in with a single to tie the game. MaCauley Flint later gave the Royals the lead when she scored on a wild pitch.

"She (Flint) doesn't play like a freshman at all," Jachim said. "She really holds her own out there."

Jachim hit an RBI single in the seventh to give herself an insurance run.

The Royals were somewhat of an unknown entering this season, but proved they are for real after routing Sky View on Thursday and beating Bountiful on Friday.

"The kids stepped up and played a great week of softball," said Travis Flint. "We answered the bell. I'm proud to death of the kids for doing that."

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