Batter's slump ends at the right time

ROY — Sasha Stone felt more than the weight of her bat as she walked to the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning Thursday.

The left fielder came to the plate with the score tied, two outs and teammates on second and third base. She faced one of the best pitchers in the state in Box Elder's Aslee Olsen, who'd led the Bees to a no. 2 ranking and perfect region performance.

"I was nervous," she said. "It seems like I've been in a little slump lately."

Then with two strikes and a ball, Stone smacked a line drive to right field that scored two runs and sealed the fourth-ranked Royals 3-1 upset. She didn't remember thinking much of anything when she stepped into the batter's box.

"I just got up there and swung the bat," she said with a shrug. "It felt great. It took the pressure off of my shoulders."

After Stone's hit the pressure belonged to the Box Elder batters and Roy's pitcher, McKenzie Holt. After just four batters, Holt and the Royal defense finished on top.

"I don't ever feel a lot of pressure," she said. "I know I can throw a ground ball or a pop-up became my defense will make the plays."

Holt said the team got a mental boost when Royal first baseman Tracie Hill returned to the line-up for the first time since she dislocated her shoulder in a pre-season tournament.

"Having her back was a comfort to some of the infield girls," said Holt, who is playing with a dislocated toe. "I like having her back out there, and she came back a lot quicker than we expected. It was tough to see her go through that. She's still in pain, so it was pretty gutsy of her to come back."

Roy coach Dave Hoch said nearly all of the meetings between Roy and Box Elder have been nail-biters, and part of the reason is that both have solid pitchers.

"It was about two good pitchers," Hoch said of the suspenseful game. "We shut them down, but they shut us down too. "

Both Holt and Box Elder pitcher Ashlee Olsen had six strike outs, and both teams finished with three errors each. The Bees actually had six hits to Roy's three hits.

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E-mail: adonaldson@desnews.com