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The Emery girls softball squad traveled to Vernal over the weekend to get a start to the 2025 softball season. Playing in a pair of games, the Lady Spartans suffered a 10-4 loss against host Uintah and a 9-7 loss to Skyridge starting the season at 2-0.
Emery ended last season at 21-8 overall entering the State Championships as the No. 1 seed but eventually falling to Grantsville in the Championship game.
In game one, they faced the host Uintah Utes from the 4A class. The Utes used a big third inning to put the game out of Emery’s reach, as they would take a 10-4 win.
With two out in the top of the first, Rheagan Rhoten sent a grounder to left field, earning her a double and an RBI, as Kali Jensen scored to put the Spartans on top 1-0. Uintah held Emery scoreless in the top of the second but added one of their own in the bottom half of the inning to tie the score up.
In the third, after holding the Spartans scoreless in the top of the inning, Uintah found their offense in the bottom half, adding seven runs, taking an 8-1 lead to the fourth. In their at bat, Emery found some offense when Kallee Lake hit a line drive and reached on an error by the second baseman that allowed Aleeyah Cowley to score from second. The next batter was TaiLynn Minchey, who sent a shot to the center that brought home Hadley Larsen from third. Elly Stilson came to the plate taking an illegal pitch and then looked at strike one. Minchey would get caught trying to steal second, but it allowed Lake to score from third, and Stilson would ground out to end the inning. Uintah would come out in the bottom of the fifth and added two more runs, taking the 10-4 win.
Rhoten ended the game with a pair of hits and earned an RBI. Cowley and Lake each collected one run, Minchey had a hit and a run scored, and Katelyn Nielson and Bailey Luke each collected a hit.
Lake got the start on the mound going two innings, giving up seven runs, six earned, on five hits, and struck out three. Rhoten entered the contest going four and gave up three runs on three hits.
On Saturday, the Spartans faced off with the Skyridge Falcons from Lehi. The Falcons play in the 6A class and battled with Emery until they earned the 9-7 win.
The two teams were evenly matched, and the game was close throughout. Once again, Rhoten got things started for Emery, with a double to the right, scoring Jensen to give the Lady Spartans the 1-0 lead. Emery’s defense would hold the Falcons scoreless in the bottom half of the inning. Lake would single to right field, driving in Larsen in the process, to give Emery a 2-0 lead headed to the bottom of the second, where Skyridge would add a couple of their own to tie things up at 2-2.
In the third, Rhoten grounded out to the shortstop as Minchey would score. The Falcons regained the lead in their at bat to go up by one, and after holding Emery scoreless in the fourth put two more on the board to give their lead a 6-3 cushion. In the top of the fifth, Morgan Tuttle, who entered the game as a courtesy runner, would score, cutting the lead to two, but Skyridge would turn around and add another pair of runs.
They would make their final run at the top of the seventh with the Spartans down 9-5. With two on, Cowley came up to the plate and ground out to the second base, which would bring Luke home. The next batter up, Elli Stoker sent a single to center field and Stilson would score to put the score at 9-7, but the Falcons would close the game out to get the win.
Stoker collected three hits and an RBI for Emery. Rhoten had one hit and a pair of RBIs, Lake collected one hit and an RBI, Stilson, Jensen, and Luke each had one hit and a run scored. Minchey scored a run, and Cowley registered an RBI in the loss.
Rhoten started on the bump, going one inning and giving up two runs, one earned on two hits. Lake closed the game, surrendering seven runs, two earned, on five hits while striking out seven.
The Lady Spartans will return on Tuesday in Price when they face the Carbon Lady Dinos.
Game time is 3:30 p.m.