photography / Troy Boman Grantsville High School softball players and coaches react after the umpire quickly changed his call from out to safe allowing GHS junior Lynnzie Valdez to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth inning. The run proved to be costly for Tooele in a 5-4 defeat.

by Mark Watson

SPORTS EDITOR

It finally happened.

Grantsville snapped a 15-game losing streak to coach Barry Pitt's Tooele Buffaloes Tuesday by scoring two runs in the sixth to tie the game and one more in the seventh to win 5-4.

"It was the best our girls have played all year," said Grantsville coach Heidi Heath.

The Cowboys' strategy was for their hitters to avoid swinging for the fences, but simply try to make contact with bunts and shorter swings. Then hope that Tooele would make some errors along the way.

"The thing about Tooele is that they have the most amazing pitchers and they can beat your hitters all the time if you're trying to hit home runs. We just wanted to put the ball in play and advance the runners," Heath said.

Grantsville got what it wanted. The Cowboys managed only four hits for the game including three infield grounders and a short bloop hit in the final inning to score the winning run from second base with two outs.

Tooele helped Grantsville keep rallies alive with some untimely errors which advanced runners.

Perhaps more importantly the Cowboys' defense pull off some huge plays and freshman pitcher Natalie Peterson worked her way out of some tight jams. Tooele loaded the bases twice in separate innings and could not manage a run.

"We were just a couple of hits away from blowing the game open," Pitt said. "Grantsville's a good team ranked as high as second in 3A in some polls.

"They (Grantsville) made a couple of great catches in the outfield and if any of those balls get by them we score a couple of runs each time," the Tooele coach said.

"The game definitely shows us that we have a lot of things to work on. We can't just walk on the field and expect to win. Mentally, I think our girls thought they'd end up scoring more runs and Lauren (Folta) would just shut them down," Pitt said.

Folta pitched another strong game allowing only four hits with 14 strike outs. Peterson had five strikeouts and allowed seven hits.

In the third inning with two outs and the bases loaded, Peterson was able to escape by earning a strike out for the third out. Tooele loaded the bases again in the fourth inning with two outs, but Peterson fanned a hitter for another escape.

In the bottom of the seventh Chelsea Dalton walked to open the inning and then stole second. Folta struck out the next two batters and then Breanna Bunderson looped a single to shallow left-center and Dalton raced past third base and slid home safely for the winning run and the celebration was on for the Cowboys.

Down 4-2 in the bottom of the sixth, Grantsville's Mallory Oltjenbruns pounded a ball down the third baseline which took a monstrous hop into the outfield. With two outs Lynnzie Valdez cracked a single and some throwing errors allowed Oltjenbruns to score and put Valdez on third. Then a wild pitch gave Valdez a chance to score. Tooele catcher Aly Jensen flipped the ball to Folta covering home plate on the errant pitch and the Buffs almost had the out. But a sliding Valdez was called safe to tie the score at 4-4.

Tooele got on the board first in the opening inning when Brittany Gonzales blasted a home run over the center field fence with Kelsey Mendenall on base to make it 2-0.

Grantsville evened the game in the second inning scoring two runs with only a bunt single. A hit batter, wild pitch, and an error helped Grantsville tie the game

The Buffs reclaimed the lead 3-2 in the fifth when Jensen hit the second home run of the day for Tooele with a blast over the center field wall. Tooele went up 4-2 in their half of the sixth. Whitney Griffith ripped a double to the left-center field gap and Gonzales bounced an RBI single up the middle to score Griffth.

Grantsville came up with three great catches in the upset victory. With a Tooele runner on second in the second inning, right fielder Melissa Baird snagged a high line drive that looked to be sailing over her head.

In the fourth the Cowboys made a couple of great grabs. Bunderson ran down a deep fly in center field and Oltjenbruns reached out to nab a high pop up near the fence.

Grantsville had little trouble on Wednesday downing Ogden 17-0 in two innings. Chelsea Dalton picked up the victory.

mwatson@tooeletranscript.com