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Show Thursday, March 27, 2008 AMERICAN FORK CITIZEN Page 7 oreti COMMUNITY SPORTS, PEOPLE AND OUTDOOR FUN 2008 REGION Cavemen among teams trying to catch Dons in Region 4 Softball Beky Beaton NORTH COUNTY The Region 4 soft ball coaches agree on two things: Spanish Fork is the team to beat, and the rest of the race is wide open. "Every team has improved im-proved this year," said coach Niki Andersen Tanner of Timpanogos. "There's not a single game we can win automatically; auto-matically; every one is going to be tough. There's no team that can be overl(xked." American Fork coach Duke Sorensen agreed. "This region is going to be tougher than ever. After the Dons, everybody else is almost dead even. We lost Mountain View, which used to be a fairly easy game, and gained Lehi, which won't be. It's going to be a dogfight all the way around." The addition of the Pioneers this season has added to the overall strength of the region. "Lehi is always going to be good," said former coach Kale Gillman, now at Pleasant Grove. "The program has a good foundation and the kids love playing. They're used to winning win-ning and they have the attitude at-titude that they're not going to let anybody beat them," he added. Even before their rapid shifts from 3A to 4A to 5A in the past few years, the Pioneers Pio-neers regularly played and won against teams in the top classifications. There is no reason to think that's going to change now. "I believe there are some tough teams in other regions, but when competing head-to-head with each individual team, I believe that Region 4 is the most competitive in the state," said Lelii coach Leslee Warr. "It will be a fun season sea-son to watch as I think that the league standings will be changing each week." Spanish Fork coach Don Andrews agrees with that. "The race is a tough question this year," he said. While conceding con-ceding that his team is the favorite, fa-vorite, he gave a pretty good summary of what the coaches said about the other teams. "Lehi's always good. American Ameri-can Fork has been a surprise so far, and Pleasant Grove is a mystery. Timpanogos is well-coached, and Lone Peak has good athletes and can't be counted out. 1 think it's going to come down to who gets hot and who gets lucky," he said. Here's a brief look at each of the teams: CONTENDERS Spanish Fork (10-0) "This is a fun team and a good team," Andrews said of his squad, which returns a number of players from last AF softball Deanonjvlemrnott SPORTS CORRESPONDENT The American Fork softball team picked up their seventh straight win by outlasting Juan Diego 1-0 in preseason action at American Fork's Art Dye Park March 20. Caveman coach Duke Sorensen So-rensen said, "Neither one of the teams hit today. It was a defensive struggle clear to the end. "They held us off until the bottom of the seventh, when we had the bases loaded. Kayla (Sorensen came up with a big hit that brought Mallory Davis in for the winning run. "This was the best defensive defen-sive game I've seen so far this season," the coach continued. "It was a totally solid defen- 4 SOFTBALL American Fork's Kayla Sorensen year's state runner-up and has exceptional depth. "Our schedule sched-ule hasn't been that good so far and we may lose some games, but that's fine. "This is probably the best defensive team Eve had, but our hitting outshines our defense," he continued. "Top to bottom, it's a dangerous lineup." At the top of everybody's downs Juan Diego for rewind sive effort by both teams. Annie An-nie Christensen pitched really well for us. She struck out 12 batters and gave up only two hits. "Since our field at the high school wasn't ready to be used today, playing here was like playing in an away game," he added. , The Soaring Eagle came really re-ally close to scoring first during dur-ing the opening inning. Christensen Chris-tensen walked two batters, then gave up a one-out single to Kadi Horrocks, allowing the visitors to load the bases. After Christensen had PREVIEW A - j xy ill- . x 7 f Yy h k ... V" . -- pitches against Brighton on Tuesday. list is Whitney Holm, the Valley Val-ley Player of the Year last year. Her pitching has been limited so far this season as she's been working through a groin injury, but she also plays second base and still hits. Andrews thinks it will be another week or two before she returns to full form. Ashley Chappel and Tina Ferguson alternate at second struck out Amber Masu, American Fork pinched Horrocks Hor-rocks in a fielder's choice play at second to hold Juan Diego scoreless. Soaring Eagle pitcher Brie Diamond proved to be quite a challenge for American Fork. Singling off Diamond for the first Caveman hit during the second inning, Holmstead ended up getting stranded on base, Teammate Amy Krommen-hoek Krommen-hoek hit a fourth-inning single off Diamond, only to get pinched in a double play. Juan Diego received another anoth-er fine chance of getting onto the scoreboard when Masu hit a seventh-inning single into center. Before the Soaring Eagle could profit from the hit, sec 'J v base and catcher. Katelyn Elliott El-liott is the cornerstone of the defense at shortstop and bats in the 3-spot. Center fielder Aly Tingey also hits really well. With Holm unavailable, the Dons have been relying on three other pitchers. "Cami Robinson has done the best so far, and Dezlee Roberts has been a pleasant surprise," the seventh straight win ond baseman Davis turned a double play that crippled Juan Diego. Christensen ended the turn by striking out Jenna Conneil. With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Davis got on base, and a Holmstead double moved her to third. Shelby Swapp's getting hit by a pitch set the stage for Kayla So-rensen's So-rensen's game-winning single. I March 25 - American Fork 10, Brighton 4: At American Fork, the Cavemen increased the win streak to eight with a victory over Brighton. American Fork coach Duke Sorensen said, "It was an ugly win for us, but it was still a win. These wins are giving us the confidence we need for going into region. "We start region this Thurs J MARIO RUIZNorth County coach said. "She's better than we thought. "Whitney is probably still the best, but it's hard to know how she'll do after that type of injury. That's why you practice more than one player at a position," Andrews said. "We may need to score a few more runs." See SOFTBALL, Page 8 day against Lehi. They have a longtime good program. They play great defense." The first four innings of the game went down as a scoreless score-less pitching duel between American Fork's Kayla Sorensen So-rensen and Brighton's Kyrstie Terry. In the top of the first inning, Sorensen gave up singles to Kayla Terry and Savannah Nielsen. Shortstop Shelbi Peterson Pe-terson suddenly shocked the Bengals by turning a double play that ended the inning's top half. Although she walked Petersen Pe-tersen in the bottom of the first, Kyrstie Terry kept the Cavemen from making any hits until the fifth. See REWIND, Page 8 Mallory Davis American Fork High School if c - 1 I Parents: Dan and Cathy Davis Year: Senior Age: 17 Birthplace: American Fork Sport: Softball Position: Second base Favorite sports team: Cleveland Indians Favorite TV show: The Office Favorite book: Twilight Favorite food: Popcorn Favorite class: Physical therapy Grade Point Average: 3.50 Favorite restaurant: Cafe Rio Hero: Derek Jeter Most memorable career moment: Turning a triple play in a 2005 St. George tournament. Future plans: To attend Utah Valley State College. Coach Duke Sorensen said: "Mallory has provided a good spark for us at the plate and on the base pads so far this season." SCOREBOARD Results Baseball Result Won 10-5 Softball Rutin Won 1-0 Won 10-4 Boys soccer nMuit Lost 0-4 Lost 0-5 Data 319 Opponent Fremont Data 320 325 Opponent Juan Diego Bnghlon Data 320 325 Opponent Timpview Mountain view Upcoming games Baseball Data Opponent Tana 42-5 Southern Nevada Tournament Softball Data Opponent Time 327 Lett 3:30 p m. 401 Pleasant Grova 3 30 p.m. 403 Spanish Fork 3.30 p.m. Boys soccer Data Opponent Time 401 Lehi 4 p m. 403 PG 9 Lehi 4 p.m. Track Dak Opponent Time 401 O American Fork 3 30 p m. 44-5 Asics Inv. 9 Timpanogos TBA Standings Reported garnet througln25 Baseball REGION 4 School Region record Overall record Spanish Fork 0-0 8-1 Timpanogos 0-0 7-1 American Fork 0-0 6-1 Pleasant Grove 0-0 7-2 Lone Peak 0-0 4-3 Lehi 0-0 4-5 REGION 7 School Region record Overall record Tooele 1-0 7-3 Sprmgville 1-0 7-4 Mountain View 1-0 3-4 Oram 0-0 4-2 Prow 0-1 6-5 Payson 0-1 4-4 Timpview 0-1 3-4 Softball REGION 4 School Region record Overall record Spanish Fork 0-0 10-0 Timpanogos 0-0 8-1 American Fork 0-0 8-3 Lehi 0-0 6-3 Pleasant Grova 0-0 4-3 Lone Peak 0-0 4-5 REGION 7 School Region record Overall record Tooele 2-0 62 Spnngville 2-0 6-4 Oram 1-0 2-7 Mountain View 1-1 2-8 Payson 1-2 6-5 Timpview 0-1 3-7 Provo 0-2 4-6 Boys soccer REGION 4 School Region record Overall record Pleasant Grove 0-0-0 3-1-0 Lehi 0-0-0 3-1-0 American Fork 0-0-0 1-4-0 Lone Peak 0-0-0 0-3-2 Timpanogos 0-0-0 0-4-0 Spanish Fork 0-0-0 0-5-1 REGION 7 School Region record Overall record Springirille 2-0-0 6-0-0 Timpview 2-1-0 6-1-0 Oram 1-0-1 3-0-1 Mountain View 1-0-1 3-2-1 Provo 1-2-0 3-3-0 Payson 1-2-0 1-3-0 Tooele 0-3-0 0-3-0 Of WHAT USE IS FREEDOM OF SPEECH TO THOSE WHO FEAR TO OFFEND? -Roger Ebert Support Freedom Read The Opinions & Editorials in |