Lady Templars fall to Taylorsville, still in it for state tourney
Bob Bahlmann
Staff writer
5-11-2017
MANTI—The lady Templar softball team took on a hard-hitting Taylorsville team last Tuesday as they prepared for state tournament play, which begins today.
The Warriors are a solid 5A team and used the long ball to pull away from Manti and earn the 17-8 win.
The Templars looked relaxed and poised in the early going and held a 4-2 lead at the bottom of the first inning. A grand slam homer by the Warriors gave them the lead in the second and the Templars trailed 17-5 going into the bottom of the sixth.
Six straight base hits by Manti brought three runners home to narrow the Taylorsville lead to nine and avoid the mercy rule win.
The warriors had three doubles and five home runs in the game. Marquel Justice had the only extra base hit for Manti, a two RBI double in the first inning.
Manti will now go into the state tournament as the second place team from the 2A Central Region. The first playoff game for the Templars will be at 1:15 today at the Spanish Fork softball complex, 295 West Volunteer Drive.
Manti’s opponent for that game will be Kanab, the number three team from 2A South. The Lady Cowboys are 5-5 in region play and 10-10 on the year. Manti is 10-2 in region competition and 12-9 overall.
The only common opponent between these teams is Delta. Both teams played the Rabbits early in the year with Manti winning 21-3 and Delta beating the Cowboys 12-13.
The winner of this first round game will advance to play the winner of the game between Gunnison and either St. Joseph or North Summit. Losers of these two games will drop into the one loss bracket and face off in a do or die game to stay alive in the tournament.
The double elimination tournament will continue tomorrow with the championship being played on Saturday. Going into the tournament, Enterprise is ranked number one, followed by Manti, South Summit, Beaver and South Sevier.
