High school softball: Spanish Fork sweeps Friday doubleheader, claims fourth straight 5A state championship

Spanish Fork’s softball team arrived at BYU’s Gail Miller Field on Friday excited to start a new streak and in the process extended another.

Thursday’s shutout loss to Springville in Game 1 of the 5A state championship series was Spanish Fork’s first shutout loss in 90 games. It created a scenario in which the Dons had to win Game 2 and 3 on Friday if they wanted to become just the fourth team in state history to win a fourth straight state championship.

There was never a doubt within Spanish Fork’s dugout that it would do just that.

“Obviously it’s not ideal, but it wasn’t anything that was going to set us back. I knew we would overcome that loss,” said Spanish Fork senior Tatum Hall.

The Dons scrapped their way past Springville in Game 2 6-5, and then rolled in Game 3 9-1 to finish the season with a 30-3 record and the 10th state championship in school history.

“We came in today knowing we were going to win two,” said Spanish Fork coach Natalie Jarvis. “We knew if we won our first one we would win the second one.”

Lucy Evans got the job done in the circle in both games on Friday, which was a big deal after what happened earlier in the state tournament when she pitched back-to-back games.

After dominating West Jordan 5-2 in the first game of bracket play on Tuesday, Evans got roughed up in the next game as Box Elder scored nine runs on her.

After she pitched the Dons to the 6-5 win in Game 2 Friday, Jarvis admits she wasn’t sure who she should start in Game 3. She ultimately decided to stick with Evans, and she was rewarded.

“Lucy did incredible. She was determined. She was going to give it her all until she couldn’t,” said Jarvis.

Evans finished with four strikeouts in Game 2 and then two in Game 3. The senior got to celebrate the previous two Spanish Fork titles from the dugout as an underclassman, but this time around she took center stage.

“Getting to pitch it for myself was definitely incredible. I think I will remember that experience for the rest of my life,” said Evans.

Heading into the best-of-3 series, Jarvis of course wanted to win the first two games and wrap up the championship, but in a weird way she had a hunch a loss might happen with her program’s recent dominance over Springville.

“Nine years is a long time not to lose, so I knew we had to lose. I knew it was coming. It was in the cards,” said Jarvis.

With the way Saturday’s first game started to unfold, a second loss was certainly in the cards for Spanish Fork. Springville’s Allie Fowler tripled in three runs in the third inning as the Red Devils went ahead 3-2, a lead they maintained heading into the bottom of the fifth.

Spanish Fork’s Olivia Carroll tied the game in the fifth on a sacrifice fly, and then in the bottom of the sixth the Dons scored three more runs, with Jayeda Carter delivering a big two-run single after Springville intentionally walked the batter before her.

The Dons tacked on one more run with a wild pitch to go ahead 6-3, and that extra run proved vital. Springville scored twice in the top of the seventh inning on wild pitches, but Evans recorded the last out on a fly out to center field with a runner on base.

In the decisive third game, there wasn’t nearly as much drama. Spanish Fork scored three runs in the second, two in the third, three in the fourth and one more in the fifth as it pounded out 14 hits in a dominant offensive display.

Hall finished the game 3 for 3 with a triple, two doubles and a walk as she finished the day reaching base in all eight plate appearances, coming around to score four times.

“I just step in there and know that I’m going to get a hit. I step in there with the confidence I’m not going to get out, I’m not going to strike out, I know that I’m going to get a hit, and I feel like that brings the momentum for everyone else behind me,” said Hall.

Added Jarvis, “She is a well-oiled softball player, she has been trained very well, and she’s just flawless. You see the way she plays, she’s flawless, and she’s very determined. She was the best for her team and herself every at-bat. She doesn’t take anything off.”

Hall’s two-run double in the second inning pushed Spanish Fork’s lead to 3-0, and with the way Evans was pitching was more than enough run support.