Lady Dinos drop games as play-in game looms
By TERRY WILLIS
Sun Advocate sports reporter
Before last week was half over the Carbon softball team had already had a tough week.
By the end of the week times just got tougher.
On Monday they saw Salem Hills for the first time in a make up game for a snow-out earlier in the season. They are probably glad that this is the only season the Sky Hawks will be in Region 8 as they lost 12-2.
Regrouping on the fly the Lady Dinos then hosted Delta on Tuesday and this time were edged out by a single run and lost 2-1.
Then came the end of the week where at Juan Diego on Thursday they went down to the Soaring Eagle 6-1.
The Dino defense showed some of their best play early in the match-up with the Sky Hawks. Salem went up early but by the fourth it was 3-2. Salem's three were from a monster homer that sailed over the fence as the batter turned on an outside pitch and nailed it. That hit was a preview of things to come.
In the fifth, the close game turned ugly as Salem found their stroke and pounded hit after hit.
For Coach Tony Pinedo, there was nothing he could do, but watch.
"They didn't look like power hitters but they sure could pound it." he said after the game.
Despite the big loss, on Tuesday a remarkably upbeat Carbon squad was back out on the field to take on the Rabbits. Delta pushed a run across in the second and the Dinos answered back with a hit up the middle by Alexis Oliver. It stayed that way until the fifth again. Delta went long and took the lead by a run.
Good defense kept the game within reach, but the Dino bats were cold and they just couldn't find the offense to take the game back.
Then came Thursday. The good thing about that day was that the Carbon softballl team secured the fifth and final berth in the state play-offs for region eight when Emery lost. The bad thing, of course was that the Juan Diego was victorious.
Kenzie Cave took the mound for Carbon. She held the Soaring Eagle to a single run in the second through fourth innings. Carbon, on the other hand, had a productive fourth with three runs and were sitting on a two run lead before Juan Diego tied it in the fifth. The Soaring Eagle iced things up with a trio of runs in the sixth and took the win.
Megan Tubbs had a great offensive effort with a pair of doubles. Darian Smith posted three hits in the game.
"We just didn't get the hits when we needed them," said Pinedo after the game. "We were rolling in the fourth when Juan Diego made two unbelievable plays and ended things in that inning."
With the Emery loss, Carbon has one more region game to finish before post season action. They head up to play Salem Hills on Tuesday (today) and then have a non region game with Timpview on Wednesday.
With the way things stand at this time the girls will face either Grantsville or Bear River for their play-in game on May 9.
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