High school softball: No. 1 Ridgeline and No. 2 Desert Hills advance to 4A title game

Ridgeline, for the third straight season, is heading to the 4A championship game where they won in 2022 and lost last season to Bear River. The Riverhawks will play Game 1 Friday at 12 p.m. MDT at BYU and then Games 2 and 3 (if needed) on Saturday.

“It feels good to be back in the championship game, still nervous. I know that we still have work to do and finish the season strong,” Ridgeline coach Michael Anderson said. “This tournament is basically broken up into three steps and the last step is the hardest step no matter who the opponent is.”

The Riverhawks have been such a well-balanced team while playing here in Spanish Fork, winning all three games in convincing fashion — beating Hurricane 8-0, Cedar 12-0 and Cedar again 10-0, while outscoring their opponents so far 30-0 in the three games played in Spanish Fork and outscoring everyone 53-4 in their five playoff games played in total.

Outstanding freshman pitcher Brielle Gardiner has been critical in the team’s pitching so far, starting in all five games that the Riverhawks have played in and winning all five games and allowing only seven hits in the three games played in bracket play. In the second game against Cedar, Gardiner was able to limit the amount of damage that Cedar was able to deal, only allowing four hits and racking up six strikeouts on the mound for the Riverhawks.

Kylie Jorgensen was great for the Riverhawks today. Batting in the nine spot, the sophomore player was able to go 3 for 3 at the plate with two RBIs in the win. Coach Anderson stated, “Having her in the nine spot is amazing for us. She goes to work there game after game. She is in our top three in batting average, and she hits nine. She loves it. She goes in there and competes which is able to put so much pressure on whoever it is playing knowing that they can’t take it any easier getting farther into out lineup.”

Ridgeline was able to add on six steals during the game, only being caught stealing once during the game.

“It just adds constant pressure on the opponent, having to not only look out for whoever is at the plate but also whoever is on the bases to not allow the easy steals.” Anderson said.

Going into the fourth inning, Ridgeline only had a 2-0 lead. Hoping to extend their lead to a more comfortable margin, the Riverhawks were able to tack on six runs thanks to RBIs from King, Jorgensen, Gardiner and a two-run home run from Texas Longhorns’ commit Anne Wallace. Leading 8-0 after four, Ridgeline was hoping to be able to quickly get two more runs on the board and end the game quickly to help preserve some energy.

Ridgeline was able to accumulate 13 hits in this game, with only one of them being more than a double as they were able to consistently but slowly do damage to the Reds’ defense.

“We knew that we had to just keep grinding away, and suddenly, the small ball was able to open the game for us. A couple well-placed bunts was able to help us break through and keep the scoring going,” coach Anderson said.

After six quick outs by the defense, the offense was able to quick record three straight hits in the bottom of the sixth inning to record the last two runs needed to put away the game 10-0 in favor of the Riverhawks.

Ridgeline will be playing for their second ever softball championship, hoping to avenge the loss they suffered last year to rival Bear River.

“We’re ready for the challenge. Were here to win for this school and for our seniors. Sending them home in the best way possible is always the goal by the end of the season,” Anderson said.

Desert Hills advances to first-ever softball championship game

Desert Hills High School opened in 2008, and in that short amount of time, the Thunder have been able to win 51 state championships in all sports. Never have they even been able to advance to the softball championship game before this season; they did not make this journey to the championship as easy as they were hoping it would be.

Coming into today, all Desert Hills needed to do was defeat 4A softball powerhouse and reigning champions No. 7 Bear River once. Luckily, with them having not lost up to this point, they were allowed some wiggle room and could afford a loss. But only one.

Going into that first game, both teams were held scoreless until Bear River was able to score thre runs in the top of the fourth inning, giving the Bears a huge 3-0 lead coming out of the frame. Desert Hills was able to score one run in the sixth inning and two in the seventh, but so would Bear River, who was able to take Game 1 and force a winner-take-all Game 2 in Spanish Fork.

“Bear River just had a great win vs. Payson before our first game. They were riding high with emotion and momentum coming into our game. It’s a game of emotion and momentum. We couldn’t really slow the game down at all in Game 1. Luckily, we are a very tough team to beat two times in a row. We haven’t lost back-to-back games so far this year. We just needed to keep our confidence and being patient,” Desert Hills coach Heidi Taylor said.

Desert Hills was hoping to continue that trend going into the Game 2 winner-take-all game in which the victor would go on to play No. 1 seed Ridgeline.

It wasn’t looking good for the Thunder, however, as the Bears were able to put up two runs in the second inning to take a 2-0 lead. In the bottom of the third inning, Desert Hills knew they needed to put some runs up before the game got away from them. After two quick strikeouts by the Thunder, it looked like they would need to wait until the next inning to do some damage, but after Lulu West was able to draw a walk and Riley Greene was able to pull off a successful bunt, the Thunder now had two runners on the base with sophomore Bailey Lee coming into bat.

Lee came into the game hitting .438 on the season with 35 RBIs and 3 home and was hoping to be able to do some damage and chip away at this lead. Lee accomplished just that, swinging at the first pitch of the at bat and sending the ball deep to centerfield past the fence for a 3-run home run.

Lee would go on to go 2 for 3 at the plate for the Thunder with three RBIs and the game-changing home run to boot.

“She’s had an amazing day, she definitely had a day. She was seeing the ball, hitting the ball today and yesterday. She was on fire for us and was a great leader for us these last 2 days,” Taylor said.

After Desert Hills took the lead at 3-2, they were able to get out of a pinch in which Bear River had the bases loaded with only one out in the top of the fourth inning. The Thunder were able to add on an insurance run and increase the lead to two in the fifth inning thanks to a single by Riley Greene, which brought home Jojo Sparks.

The lead was just enough to hold up as Bear River did score one in the sixth inning but was unable to complete the comeback and Desert Hills won the game 4-3 to advance to their first ever softball championship game.

“It feels fantastic, it feels better than Christmas to be able to finally make it to the ‘ship. I couldn’t be prouder of these group of girls and the coaches. We worked our butts off to get to this point and we’re going to just continue to have fun and savor this moment,” Taylor said. “We’re ready and pumped up for these next couple of games coming up.”

Desert Hills will take on top-seeded Ridgeline at BYU over the next two days. Game 1 is Friday at noon, with Games 2 and 3 (if needed) being on Saturday.