Tooele's defense came through with several superb plays to snuff out Springville rallies and keep the Devils scoreless in Friday's game between the top two teams in Region 7.

Then in the seventh inning, Tooele showed off its offensive prowess.

With the score deadlocked at 0-0 heading into the seventh, Tooele pitcher Lauren Folta led off by crushing a solo home run over the left field fence to give the Buffs a 1-0 lead. One out later, Tooele catcher Aly Jenson followed with a towering home run shot in about the same spot to make it 2-0 and give the Buffs some breathing room and put the Devils in desperation mode.

Springville went down one, two, three in the bottom of the seventh and Tooele kept its undefeated region record intact at 7-0 while Springville dropped to 6-1.

On Thursday it was bombs away for Tooele with seven home runs and 15 hits in a 19-4 victory at Timpview. But Folta wasn't one of those home run hitters.

"It was great to see her (Folta) come through today, because she was a little disappointed with her hitting yesterday," said Tooele coach Barry Pitt.

Folta, Tooele's ace in the circle, chalked up another shut out by scattering six hits and striking out seven. The defense backed her up with a solid performance.

"You can't make mistakes against good teams and today we came up with some big defensive plays," Pitt said.

In the third inning, Springville had a runner at second base with two outs. The hitter pounded a single to center field and the base runner tried to score from second on the play. But Tooele center fielder Whitney Griffith unleashed a perfect throw to the plate and Jenson tagged out the sliding runner to end the inning.

"She (Griffth) has the best arm on the team. When she came up with the ball and the runner was heading to home I knew the runner was in trouble," Pitt said.

Tooele left fielder Allie Alverson shined in the fifth inning. The first two batters for Springville both popped the ball to shallow left field, but on both plays Alverson charged in hard to make diving catches and keep the hitters from reaching the base paths.

Then in the sixth inning with a runner at first and one out, Tooele first baseman Brittany Gonzales had to stretch to snag a hard line drive. She stepped on the bag to end the inning with a double play.

"When Lauren hit that home run it was a big relief because I knew the top of the Springville hitting lineup was out of the way and we could end the game in the seventh," Pitt said. "Before that, things were a bit stressful. We knew they were a tough team. These types of games are stressful, but fun."

Tooele teed off against the T-Birds with seven home runs on Thursday.

Kelsey Mendenhall hit two of them and five other teammates joined in the home run derby. Matti Snow, Griffith, Gonazales, Whitney Holt and Jenson all smacked the ball out of the park. Snow also added a pair of doubles and Griffth added a two-base hit.

Tooele plays at 5A Taylorsville today. The Warriors are ranked third in 5A with an 8-4 record.

On Thursday, Tooele hosts No.1-ranked Bear River from the 3A ranks with a 13-3 record and on Friday the Buffs host No.1-ranked Riverton from the 5A ranks with a 12-1 record.

mwatson@tooeletranscript.com