| Good defense helps the Dinos take down Delta in their final match up. |
Tied with Emery for the final spot in the play-offs, the team knew it had one final shot at breaking the juggernaut and putting their destiny in their own hands. Delta had swept the Dinos in an earlier double header and so the girls knew they had their backs against the wall.
But a few Carbon girls had overheard some of the Delta players talking trash about the team at another school event and that was all it took to build a fire in a team that had been showing some sparks of success throughout the year. This time it was Carbon who walked away on top with a 7-3 win.
Sunny skies greeted the teams as they took the field. Troubled by fielding errors all season, the Dinos started off with clean fielding and good pitching to shut down the Rabbits. Delta also showed good defense and held Carbon scoreless as well.
The storm hit as the Dinos were coming up to bat in the bottom of the third. Both bad weather and the Carbon bats battered the Rabbits resulting in a three run lead. Sarah Norton contributed a double and Whitney Williams hit a long single that went to the fence. Delta battled back to bring the score to 3-2 but the Dinos moved the score to 5-2 in the fourth. Neither team scored in the fifth.
Delta did not give up and as the weather eased up they moved back within striking distance with two runs. Carbon added two of their own in the sixth to give themselves some breathing room. Pitcher Paige Pinedo had laid down a good bunt the inning before so Coach Pinedo was toying with having her do it again. But when a good hitting situation presented itself, he gave her the “swing away” sign and she launched one over the fence on the first pitch to help her own cause.
With Emery dropping their game to Juan Diego the Dinos secured the final play-off berth with their victory. Coach Pinedo was ecstatic after the game. “We are excited to get to go to the play-offs after surviving such a dismal season last year where we went one and forever. If we work hard and stick together we can come back even stronger next year.” He went on to say, ” I was impressed with all the good things I saw on the field today, they hustled, didn’t get down when they made a mistake and had each others backs throughout the whole game. We need to work on a few things to get ready for Tooele. Maybe we can keep this going and do some good things in the play-offs too.”
The Dinos head up to Tooele for the first round with the game starting at noon on Saturday May 12.