High school softball: Cavemen save own postseason while denying one to Knights
They also had the Knights' postseason hopes in their hands, and in the 4-2 Caveman victory they took Lone Peak out of the tournament picture and put themselves squarely into position to ride into the postseason as Region 4's fourth-place team.
If they finish off the Timpanogos Timberwolves on Thursday in a make-up game from earlier this season, they will make it to postseason play for the first time since 2002.
Last year, they found themselves fighting the Knights in a play-in game, as the two teams were tied for fourth place, but it was Lone Peak that came out victorious in that game.
This season, the Cavemen hope to turn things around.
"Winning Thursday is our goal now. They're a tough team, but we can beat them," said American Fork coach Duke Sorenson about the Timberwolves, the team American Fork beat on May 1 when pitcher Annie Christensen hit the game-winning RBI in the bottom of the seventh.
Christensen used the momentum she gained from last week's victory and played the best game of her season.
Christensen only allowed five hits in the contest, with nine strikeouts and no walks. She went through three innings with a perfect game before allowing her first hit of the contest.
But Sorenson notes that the Cavemen are not just a couple of individual stars with some role players to back them up.
"Our team is not a one-person team. We're a real team. Teamwork and everyone coming to play on this team is more important than anything," said Sorenson, who was happy with his team's batting and the defense they played behind Christensen.
The Cavemen committed only one error in comparison to Lone Peak's five fielding miscues and scored three of their four runs without the benefit of RBIs. Sandra Nessler walked in the bottom of the first, and after a wild pitch and a passed ball, the Cavemen picked up their first run on the first error of the game.
Three more errors in the second inning gave American Fork its second run of the contest, but they were hitting balls hard and putting them into play, making Lone Peak play tough defense, which improved as the game went on.
Singles by Shelby Swapp and Haley Holmstead in the third inning, ironically, didn't produce any runs, but American Fork did score a pair in the bottom of the fourth on a pair of walks, a sacrifice bunt by Christensen, an RBI single by Nessler, and another Lone Peak error.
Recent comments
Thats right!! Way to go American Fork!!!! Yeah!! Atta girl Annie!...
AF Rocks!! | May 7, 2008 at 6:52 p.m.
Thats right!!! way to go American Fork!!!! yeah!!
AF Rocks | May 7, 2008 at 6:47 p.m.
