Bear River shooting for rare softball 4-peat
May 13th, 2011 @ 1:22pm
By Greg Madson, ksl.com contributor
GARLAND ? It has been an interesting year for the defending Class 3A softball champion Bear River Bears.
After rolling to their third straight state championship with a 26-4 record in 2010, the Bears came out of the gate slow with three losses in five games in 2011, but they quickly found their stride winning 10 in a row before a midseason setback to Region 11 co-champion Juan Diego.
The Bears shared the region championship with Juan Diego at 9-1, but earned the region's top seed by allowing fewer runs in their two head-to-head match-ups with the Soaring Eagle.
Bear River got right back to form and won seven in a row and will now host Juab (8-14), the fifth-place team from Region 12, Saturday at noon in first-round state pool play.
Even though they are facing a fifth-place team, nobody in a Bear uniform is taking the game lightly.
?I am a little nervous. You never know what can happen," said Kelli Smart, who leads the state in career homers with 24. "I don?t know when the nerves will go away, maybe when the game gets going. We can?t just show up and win. We have to try hard and focus the entire seven innings.?
The fourth-ranked Bears (19-4) have wins over Bingham, Box Elder and Spanish Fork, and they appear to be poised for another deep run into the state playoffs.
?We had a lot of pressure (on us this year to repeat)," said Smart, who has signed to play at UVU. "We knew we were a solid hitting team, but we knew we would have to improve our defense."
The Bears know the road to a title won?t be easy.
Second-ranked Manti, third-ranked Juan Diego and Grantsville are contenders, but top-ranked Union may prove to be the toughest challenger. The Cougars (20-5) have allowed a state-low 34 runs this year (Bear River has allowed 61) and have won 13 of their last 14 games. They also host a noon game Saturday against Richfield.
?We just have to take it one game at a time, even one inning at a time," Smart said. "I wouldn?t want us to focus on taking state for a fourth time and not focus on the task at hand. We can?t get too far ahead of ourselves. We need to take small steps."
Leadoff hitter Morgan Summers fuels the offense and is hitting .500. She holds the state record for most consecutive games with a base hit (29). Behind her is junior Kassi Fronk (.416) and big boppers Jordan Theurer (.514), Smart (.364) and Shaunie Owen (.382).
Thuerer, Smart and Owen combined for 13 of the team?s 19 home runs this year, while freshman Erin Fox is batting over .400 for the year with two home runs. Thuerer also sports a 2.06 ERA with 69 strikeouts.
Bingham has won five state titles with the Bears (2001, 2002, 2008, 2009, 2010). Bingham High is the only team with a four-peat (1991-94).
?We don?t talk about (repeating). We just talk about playing each game the best we can," said Bear River coach Calvin Bingham, who is in his 12th year. "Hopefully it comes together and we do well. The girls have handled it well, they have worked hard.?
Greg Madson is a sports nut living in Tremonton. He enjoys covering sports for the Tremonton Leader. You can reach him via email at: sales@shopskybox.com or read more of his work at: www.tremontonleader.com
Source: http://www.ksl.com/?nid=968&sid=15530074&s_cid=rss-968
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