Prep softball: Riverton scores six runs in sixth inning to rally past West High

West Valley City • In an effort to get one step closer to earning its first softball state championship, West High was in good position entering the seventh inning on Wednesday.

But West wasn't the only school seeking its first title, and Riverton didn't go quietly into the night.

Behind by four runs in a wild game between the only two unbeatens left in the 5A draw, the Silverwolves rallied for six runs to take an 11-9 victory over the Panthers.

For much of the contest, West held the lead. But the cushion disappeared when Riverton's diminuitive and spunky catcher Kaitlyn Adler launched a two-RBI home run shot to center in the seventh.

"Five-feet [tall] and all clutch," Riverton coach Katelyn Elliott said. "She's capable of hitting it out and she's just a kid that comes through in the clutch."

The first three runs of the seventh for Riverton, which made the deficit 9-8, came mostly via fielding errors for West, which committed three errors in the last inning.

Adler's long-ball for the 10-9 lead, as it turned out, came on the heels of her trying to do something different.

"I was trying to bunt that first pitch," Adler said. "Then I thought, 'Nah, I'm just going to swing.' It didn't feel that good — I didn't think it would go over."

That was the second of two huge homers for the Silverwolves. Trailing 3-0 in the third, Riverton (23-5) put runners on first and second when West opted to walk Jordan Lockhart to load the bases. The next batter, Taylor Eakle, hammered a grand slam to right for a 4-3 lead.

"We all said, 'Eakle, this is your chance, you can do it,' " Adler recalled. "And she knew it. She got up there and roped that freakin' homer. It was awesome."

But West hit some blasts too against Riverton starter Lockhart. Sisters Breah and Huntyr Ava both cleared the fence by considerable margins in the first inning and Elliott pulled Lockhart in favor of reliever Eryn Williams after Huntyr Ava belted a grand slam of her own in the bottom of the third.

When the teams took the field, the fact that a new 5A champ would be crowned was common knowledge around the Valley Regional Softball Complex. Two-time defending champ Lehi, after falling to West on Tuesday night, was eliminated with a loss to Fremont — which then fell to Taylorsville.

West (27-4) will play Taylorsville at 1 p.m. Thursday. The winner of that contest will play Riverton at 4 p.m. in the championship game.

"We'll just let the loss to Riverton burn inside them. It hurts, but we'll be using that as motivation for things to come," West coach Keith Lopati said. —

Storylines

R Riverton advances to the Class 5A title game.

• The Silverwolves rallied for six runs in the top of the sixth, with Kaitlyn Adler's two-run homer giving them the lead, to overcome a four-run deficit.

• West's Huntyr Ava hit two home runs, including a grand slam.