2A softball championship: San Juan wins first softball title

SPANISH FORK — Even though the San Juan Broncos only allowed six total runs in their entire five-game run of the 2A state softball tournament, they fought through their share of ups and downs on their way to the title with a 5-2 victory over Juab.

Great defense, timely hitting and the all-everything play of Generra Nielson propelled them to their first-ever state championship.

"That was fun. It was our time. That was a big win for us," said ace pitcher Nielson, who also led the Broncos in the batter's box.

"Generra has been the team leader for the last four years," said San Juan coach Craig Swenson. "All the girls follow her example. She set the bar high this year for the whole team, and they wanted it and achieved it."

Though the Broncos were heavily favored going into the tournament, they didn't do anything with flashy, over-the-top play. They focused on fundamentals and a great mental attitude to get them through the tough spots.

The Broncos found themselves behind during several key stretches late in games and even went extra innings against the Juab Wasps on Friday night to stay in the winners' bracket and in the driver's seat for the tourney championship.

"I like to work under pressure. It doesn't bother me," said Nielson, who had her share of pressure-filled innings both in the pitcher's circle and in the batter's box.

Swenson agreed, saying, "We've had some close games all tournament. We had to come back from behind, but these girls just don't panic."

After hitting a sacrifice fly for the game-winning RBI in the bottom of the eighth inning against Juab on Friday night, she came back with the first run of the game in the championship match-up on Saturday by blasting a home run over the left-center fence, putting her team on top 1-0 and transferring plenty of pressure to Juab.

The pressure on the Wasps then multiplied as she struck out batter after batter, finally finishing with 16 in the game.

San Juan added its second run of the game on a couple of jittery Juab errors in the bottom of the second but then couldn't come up with anything for the next three innings.

Juab, meanwhile, grabbed hold of some hope as singles by Chesha Bills and Mallory Ferguson put one run on their side of the scoreboard. Jordan Gurney then smashed her own home run over the left-center fence in the top of the sixth to deadlock things at 2-2.