| Paige Pinedo throws the high hard one in a game last spring. |
A marathon schedule faced the softball team last weekend in St. George and it gave the girls some much needed experience before the start of region play. The team lost 13-3 to Pine View before posting a 13-2 win against Monticello. They took a 10-6 extra inning loss to Beaver and then turned right around and fell 12-5 to Richfield. They lost 5-4 to Snow and they wrapped it up with a 9-0 loss to Judge.
Coach Pinedo knew that at least two of the games could have gone in Carbon’s favor with just a bit more luck. He felt despite the losses the team played well and showed improvement in their offense and defense.
Starting off on Thursday against Pine View, Carbon spotted their opponents 10 runs in the first two innings before settling down to play ball. In the next three innings they held Pineview to just two scores while pushing three across themselves. Pinedo was proud of the way they settled down after getting themselves in a hole. “This was something we just couldn’t do last year.” he commented.
The team kept that momentum going as they pounded the ball against Monticello to cruise to a 13-2 win. The team from Beaver was ready to take on the Dinos and they kept that game close. Trailing 32- into the sixth, carbon tied the game and had a chance to win it, but just could not push the run across. The game went into International tie-breaker rules where one run does not win the game. Beaver drew blood next, sending one across. The Dinos tied it up and made some contact at the plate, but still could not drive the winning run home. That seemed to take the wind out of their sails and they allowed Beaver to score four times to take home the win.
Immediately following the heart breaking loss they faced a good Richfield team. Playing some of the worst ball of the tournament, the Dinos committed eight errors and lost 12-5. The next day Carbon got back on track. Down 0-5 to Snow Canyon, they battled back to almost take the game. They had the bases loaded with a chance to seal the deal and their luck ran out.
Most of the starting team had to leave before the final face off against Judge and Pinedo put in a fresh line up, starting many of his freshman squad. Although they were facing a much more experienced and older team, they young squad did not allow themselves to be done in by the 10 run rule and hung in for seven good innings. They couldn’t manage a score but they did hold the more powerful team to nine.
Pinedo is feeling very good about what he is seeing on the field this season. “Last year we were out of most games early, this season they are making efforts to come back and pull together. I see a different attitude in the girls.”
The team plays at home this Thursday against Park City at 3 p.m. They will be returning from a double header against Richfield.