High school softball: Late outburst lifts Vikings to rout of American Fork

AMERICAN FORK — In what was a tie ball game heading into the fifth inning, the Pleasant Grove Vikings broke things open — scoring 16 runs over the fifth and sixth — to rout American Fork 18-2 and come away with an important Region 4 victory.

"The flood gates just came open. We just started hitting it where they weren't," said Pleasant Grove coach Jim Clark. "They did a good job on us in the first four innings, but we have some really good hitters. I have to give the team credit. They battled and didn't get rattled."

The Vikings moved into a tie for second place in Region 4 with the Brighton Bengals. Both teams are 3-1. The Cavemen fell to 1-4 and into fifth place with the loss.

Pleasant Grove's numbers were impressive. The Vikings did most of their damage came in the two-inning outburst, sending 25 batters to the plate while racking up 13 hits.

Several Pleasant Grove hitters had big outings — led by leadoff hitter Katie Briggs, who smacked four hits, scored three runs and drove in three. Mackenzie Larson added four hits, two runs and two RBIs.

Jade Kennedy, who batted eighth, contributed three hits, three RBIs and a pair of runs. Lisa Castleberry, who has gone down with a pair of minor injuries this year, came back to garner a pair of hits along with four RBIs and a pair of runs. In all, nine batters picked up hits with Briggs, Larson and Kennedy hitting them hard enough for doubles.

Clark is quite confident with his team's hitting ability, and he's happy with the solid play of pitcher Angie Mikalauski, who he says is keeping her composure well, not letting the highs get too high and the lows get too low.

What he does think his team needs a little work on is the fielding aspect of the game, and he's planning to take a little time during his team's spring break to work on defense.

"It will be good to get in some practice days. Defense hasn't been where I thought it should be this year. We've scored some runs on some good pitchers, and now we've got to work on our defense," said Clark, whose team has been through one of the toughest preseason schedules of any team in the state.

Five different American Fork batters were able to manage hits off of Mikalauski, bringing two runs across the plate. Katelyn Romboy and Whitney Thompson each picked up an RBI in addition to their singles.

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