High school softball: Riverton blasts way past Bingham en route to 6A state championship

The message from Riverton coach Whitley Haimin to her potent offensive lineup on Friday was a pretty simple one — trust yourself, and be patient.

Riverton was a bit too aggressive at the plate on Thursday in Game 1 of the best-of-3 6A championship series with Bingham, and as a result struck out 10 times and scored just once in a lethargic performance.

Haimin believed that patience in the batters box would lead to more productive at-bats and put the pressure back on the pitcher.

The subtle tweak paid off in a big way on Friday at BYU. Riverton rolled to a 15-5 victory in Game 2 in five innings and then in the decisive third game it smashed the ball again in another decisive 12-3 victory to claim its third state championship in the past four years.

First-year Silverwolves coach Haimin had nothing but praise for her players afterward.

“They’re just good, genuine people and I’m proud. They deserve it. They’ve worked their butts off. Since Day 1 I came in here and they told me what they wanted to do,” she said.

It took Riverton a few innings to get going in Game 3 but it eventually did, scoring five runs in the fifth, three in the sixth and four in the seventh.

“I feel like it’s a choice to grab the momentum and I feel like as a whole we took that and we never gave up,” said Riverton’s Braylee Shields, who drove in five runs in the two wins.

Shields delivered the big hit in the key fifth inning. After Camryn O’Farrell singled in two runs to put Riverton ahead 2-0, Shields followed with a three-run smash over the right centerfield fence for the 5-0 lead.

All five runs came with two outs as the rain started to fall at BYU.

Bingham, which was seeking a state title repeat, had a response in its half of the fifth as Brenna Cowley tripled, Brooklyn Fogg singled and then Shyann Banasky doubled in succession to whittle the deficit to a more manageable 5-3 with two innings remaining.

The Miners didn’t score again, however, while Riverton’s patience at the plate led to four more walks and more timely hitting stretched the lead to double digits for the 21st time this season as it finished with a 27-5 record.

“(Bingham’s) Brecka Larson did great on the mound Game 1, and we really played to her game and so we just made a game plan because offensively we’re a great team but we got behind a lot,” said Haimin, who told her players to own it at the plate.

In the circle, sophomore Peyton Sanchez owned it for Riverton. After pitching great in Game 1 in only allowing three runs in the loss, she pitched great again on Friday outside of two innings when Bingham scored four runs in an inning in Game 2 and then three runs in an inning in Game 3.

“She carried us all year long. I feel like that was one thing that everybody doubted us at the very beginning saying that we didn’t have very good pitching, but that kid was lights out. She continued to work every single day and I felt like she got better throughout the season,” said Haimin.

Sanchez pitched sparingly as a freshman last year, but she knew an increased role was expected of her and she didn’t shy away from the challenge.

“I knew from the start they needed a pitcher and I had to step up, and I can either take it as ‘Oh no, it’s on me, or yes, it’s on me,” said Sanchez, who definitely chose the latter.

Haimin said that Sanchez and junior catcher Brooke Tacke were tremendous battery mates all season, with Tacke calling all the games and really helping Sanchez throughout the season.

The two were also dynamite at the plate in Game 3 as Sanchez went 3 for 4 with two doubles and an RBI and Tacke was 2 for 2 with a double and three RBIs.

In Saturday’s first game, Riverton jumped out quick, building a 5-1 lead after the second inning, but Bingham scored four runs in the third to tie it 5-5 as Gracelyn Lemke highlighted the inning with a bases-clearing triple.

In the fourth, Riverton went back ahead 9-5 as the first four batters recorded base hits, with doubles from O’Farrell and Lily Heitz.

In the fifth, Riverton’s patient approach led to another big inning as nine batters came to the plate, with Sanchez driving in two runs for the walk-off win in five innings, 15-5.

Throughout the two games at BYU on Friday, all nine batters reached base for Riverton in both games as their patient paid huge dividends.