High school softball: Grand finally finds way to beat San Juan in 2A semifinals

SPANISH FORK — The Grand Red Devils are headed to the 2A state softball championship game after doing something they've been unable to do all year – beat Region 15 rival San Juan.

The Broncos took the region title and defeated the Red Devils twice this year, winning the games 15-3 and 13-9, but this time it was all about defense and pitching. The hitters just couldn't string things together for either side, but Grand finally did just enough to win, 3-2 in eight innings.

The Red Devils were almost in shock after it ended, discovering they're in the championship game, will be able to sit and wait for South Summit and San Juan to play the one-loss bracket game, and then will only be required to win a single game to take the title.

"We only have to win once," said relieved pitcher Shelby Dalton, who was happy to have slid all the way through the winners' bracket and in doing so save her arm for the title matchup.

She could have lost confidence, and her team could have completely given up the momentum just two batters into the contest, when freshman Brooke Lyman got hold of her first pitch and sent it sailing over the fence for a home run and a 1-0 San Juan lead.

But the Broncos couldn't even get their bats on another ball during the inning as Dalton struck out the side despite giving up the one long ball.

The San Juan momentum gained from the home run took even more of a nose dive when a pair of singles by Taylor Hren and Molly Mcelhaney and a sacrifice fly RBI from Lillian McKinlay-Jones evened things up in the bottom of the first.

"That definitely was key for us to come back and start the game over in our minds," Grand coach Stephanie Cluff noted of the quick comeback.

Turned out that the home run and the tying run were the only scores in the first seven innings for either team. Defense and pitching ruled the rest of the way as the Broncos spread six hits throughout the game and were struck out 14 times by Dalton. The Red Devils managed to finish the game with eight hits, but also had a tough time stringing things together.

"The main thing I was doing was trying to pitch around them and mix it up," said Dalton.

But after the two teams stopped each other cold from the second through the seventh innings, things changed as they went into international tiebreak rules starting the top of the eighth with a runner on second base.