MT. PLEASANT—The traditional Hawk Stock co-ed softball tournament closed out the school year on Thursday, May 26 at North Sanpete High School, where a couple of the lower-seeded teams ended up in the championship.
Hawk students look forward to the end-of-school celebration each year. Events include yearbooks being handed out, games of corn hole, E-sports (gaming systems) and a favorite softball game.
Students make up their own teams, which must have equal numbers of girls and boys. Faculty members trade their teaching hats for a chance to be an umpire for a day.
This year, 10 teams signed up for the tournament. Pool play took place early in the day, giving each team a couple games to show their stuff and be bracketed into the tournament.
Then semifinal games were played. Both were close-scoring games with both winning teams being the underdogs.
Amber Lee, a senior and member of one of the final two teams, said she will never forget this year’s Hawk Stock.
“Everyone on my team thought we were going to get beat out the first game we played,” she said. “We proved each other wrong.”
As her team went through the day, they were all getting tired, but their team mom and fellow classmate, Olivia Larsen, kept pushing them through each game.
“Even though our team took second, we were just happy we made it that far,” Amber said.
Jordan Hilton, a senior and member of the championship team, said this was her first time playing Hawk Stock, and she hasn’t played softball since she was in sixth grade.
“It was a super-hot day, and my team played lots of the tougher teams,” Jordan said. “Once we figured out a system that worked, it all clicked, and we were getting outs faster.”
Jordan said the final game was the most fun. Her team’s heavy hitters went “crazy” hitting several triples and home runs.
“The sportsmanship between the two teams made the win a sweet one,” she said.
