The Lady Spartans were on the road for the opening round of the 3A State Championships on Saturday in Grantsville. They faced off with the Providence Hall Patriots in the opening game of the playoffs and would come away with a 12-11 victory.

Emery put three runs on the board in the bottom of the first inning taking a 3-1 lead in a highly competitive contest in which the lead would change hands five times.

Down 11-8 in the sixth inning the Spartans started a rally with two outs when Kaejha Johnson scored on a wild pitch. In the next at bat, Tylee Norton would come home thanks to another wild pitch, plus a Janessa Weston single to left field that scored one more run. Taija Olsen sent a triple to right field, capping off the inning and putting Emery in the lead 12-11. The defense allowed just one hit in the seventh inning closing the door on the Patriots and moving Emery into the next round.

Johnson went 3-of-3 scoring three runs and adding one RBI. Janessa Weston had three hits scoring two runs and driving in one. A group of five Spartans collected at least one hit in the win for Emery.

Johnson received the start and the win for Emery going four innings giving up six runs (five earned) on six hits and struck out three. Jensen came in going three innings and allowed five runs on six hits she also struck out three.

The No. 6 Emery Spartans will now face the No.3  Grantsville Cowboys on Thursday at the Spanish Fork Softball Complex at 12:15.

Should they come away with the win, Emery will square off with the winner of the South Summit/Union match-up. The Spartans have not faced Union this season, but back in March they played South Summit to a 10-10 tie at a tournament in St. George.

If they lose to Grantsville, they fall into the one-loss bracket and would face Delta. Emery met up with Delta in March in Castle Dale with Emery taking the 11-0 win.

Click HERE to view the complete 3A State Championship Bracket.