Busy week for Broncos as spring sports begin to wind down

THE ROUND-UP
by Tad Barton
Twelve games were played on the baseball and softball diamonds this past week by the San Juan Bronco baseball and softball teams.
Baseball started off the week with a 10-0 win over Monticello before dropping both ends of a double header against Manti on the road, 9-5 and 6-4.
The Lady Broncos also dropped a pair of games to Manti, 13-0 and 14-7 on Thursday, April 26. However, they then headed to Salt Lake City to participate in the annual Swing for Life Tournament on April 27-28, where they went 5-4 over two days of action.
The diamonds weren’t the only place the Broncos were busy, as the boys and girls track teams traveled to Vernal to compete in the Big Red Eastern Utah Championship hosted by Uintah High School.
The girls team ended up fifth out of nine teams, and the boys were sixth out of eight teams.
Girls golf played their last round of the season before heading to Region.
Whitney Ivins led the Broncos, who have shown steady improvement throughout the season.
Baseball
It was Senior Day for San Juan on April 24 when the Broncos welcomed Monticello to town in a non-region tilt.
Getting the start for the Broncos was senior Baylr Eldredge, who got San Juan off to a great start holding the Bucks scoreless in the first inning. The San Juan offense helped their pitcher out in the bottom of the first, scoring five runs on six hits.
In the second inning, Eldredge once again did his part with a little help from his defense to keep Monticello off the board.
In the bottom of the second, the Broncos kept the pedal down as they scored five more runs to go up 10-0 over the Bucks.
Neither team would score over the next two and half innings, giving San Juan a 10-0 win.
More impressive than the Broncos offense was their pitching, as Eldredge, Corbin Palmer, and Trez Perkins combined to throw a no hitter.
Eldredge went three innings for San Juan, striking out six and walking one.Palmer notched one strikeout in his lone inning on the mound, and Perkins tallied three strikeouts in one inning of work.
Tyler Draper and Thomas Anderson shared pitching duties for Monticello. Draper gave up 14 hits, struck out two, and walked one in three innings. Anderson surrendered one hit, had one strikeout, and one walk for the Bucks.
At the plate, San Juan was led by Randall Flavel, who was a perfect three for three and had two triples and an RBI. T.J. Johnson went two for two with two doubles for the Broncos.
San Juan had four players who finished two for three on the day, including Perkins, Palmer, Eldredge, and Avery Mitchell. Perkins also had three RBIs, Mitchell had two, and Palmer finished with one.
San Juan didn’t enjoy quite the same success later in the week, as they took on the Manti Templars in Manti on Friday, April 27. The home team treated the Broncos to a 9-5 loss in the first game of a double header, then handed San Juan a 6-4 loss in the nightcap.
Manti came out swinging to get things started, as the Templars scored nine runs over the first three innings, all while holding San Juan scoreless.
The Broncos scored three runs to cut the Manti lead to six, 9-3, in the bottom of the fourth. The Broncos then scored one run in each of the fifth and sixth innings and blanked Manti in the top half of each of those innings to pull within four runs, 9-5.
Neither team would score in the seventh, giving Manti a 9-5 win.
Game two was a bit closer, with Manti holding a 1-0 lead after four innings.
San Juan got on the score board and took the lead in the top of the fifth after they scored four runs to go up 4-1.
That lead was short lived, however, as the Templars held the Broncos scoreless in the top of the sixth before scoring four runs to reclaim the lead, 6-4. San Juan then failed to score any runs in the top of the seventh, giving Manti their second win on the day, 6-4.
Softball
It was a tale of two games for the Bronco softball team on Thursday, April 26, as they took on Region 15 opponent Manti in a double header.
The Broncos struggled to get anything going at the plate, while the Templars rolled up 13 runs in the first four innings. San Juan had one last chance in the bottom of the fifth after holding Manti scoreless in the top of the inning, but the Broncos were once again unable to cross the plate, resulting in a 13-0 loss to the Templars.
The Broncos finished the game with just three hits, all singles by Jalynn Swenson, Nizhoni Lacy, and Shaelyn Squires.
Gracee Bowers and Kaitlyn Perkins split pitching duties, with Bowers getting the start and pitching the first three innings giving up seven hits, striking out one, and walking one. Perkins gave up four hits, struck out one, and walked one in two innings of work for the Broncos.
The Broncos rebounded nicely to begin the second game of the afternoon, starting things off with a seven-run first, then giving up just two runs to the Templars in the bottom of the inning to claim a 7-2 lead.
Unfortunately for San Juan, that was all the runs they would score while Manti went on to score six runs in the third, one run in both the fourth and fifth, and four more in the sixth to hand the Broncos their second loss of the day, 14-7.
Tassi Su’eSu’e led the offensive charge for San Juan with three hits and an RBI. Swenson, Squires, and Sam Jacobsen each notched two hits with Swenson and Jacobsen each recording an RBI.
Chamique Lopez, Keya Black, and Nizhoni Begaye each had one hit, while Lopez, Black, and Nizhoni Lacy each finished with one RBI.
Bowers once again got the start and pitched all six innings for the Broncos, finishing with two strikeouts and one walk.
San Juan got back in the win column on Friday, April 27, as they picked up a 13-7 win over Rowland Hall to kick off the Swing for Life Tournament. Su’eSu’e drove in five runs on two hits, both home-runs, to lead San Juan at the plate.
Black, Squires and Begaye all batted 1.000 after they each went three for three. Lacy and Bowers finished the game two for three. Both had a pair of RBIs, while Swenson, Jacobsen, and Emily Palmer each had one hit.
Autum Allen got the start for the Broncos, going two innings where she gave up four hits, struck out one, and walked two.
Perkins came on in relief and pitched two innings, giving up three hits, striking out two, and walking two.
San Juan kept things rolling in their second game of the tournament, racking up 14 runs on 17 hits, claiming a 14-0 win over St. Joseph in just three innings of play.
Five Broncos were perfect at the plate in the game, including Swenson (three for three), Su’eSu’e (two for two), Begaye (two for two), Allen (one for one) and Ryann Shumway (one for one).
Leading San Juan in RBIs for the game are Squires and Begaye, with three apiece. Bowers and Swenson each added a pair of RBIs while Allen, Lacy, and Su’eSu’e each had one. Bowers also had a homerun in the game for the Broncos.
Bowers got the start in the circle for San Juan, pitching three innings in which she gave up just one hit and struck out six.
In their third and final game of the day, San Juan faced Hunter and got in a big 5-0 hole after one inning. The Broncos didn’t panic but started chipping away at the Wolverine lead with two runs in the second and another five runs in the third, giving San Juan a 7-5 lead after three innings of play.
Hunter responded in the top of the fourth with four runs to retake the lead 9-7. The Broncos again battled back, scoring one run in both the fifth and sixth to tie the game at 9-9.
The Wolverines had one more run up their sleeve in the top of the seventh to go up 10-9 and then held the Broncos scoreless to get the win.
The Broncos hit the ball well, finishing with twelve hits, led by Lopez who had three. Lacy, Palmer, and Su’eSu’e each had two and Bowers, Black, and Begaye all had one hit in the game.
Three Broncos finished the game with two RBIs, including Lacy, who also had a homerun; Su’eSu’e; and Lopez.
Pitching duties again fell to Bowers, who covered all seven innings and surrendered 17 hits to go with nine strikeouts and one walk.
Day two of the Swing for Life Tournament started out with San Juan going up against Clearfield.
After hitting the ball well day one, the San Juan bats fell silent with just four hits against Clearfield, who handed the Broncos a 4-0 loss.
Su’eSu’e, Swenson, Bowers, and Lacy all had one hit in the game for the Broncos. In the circle, Bowers went four and two thirds innings for San Juan, giving up seven hits and walking two.
Errors doomed the Broncos against Bingham in their second game on day two. Seven errors led to six Miner runs in a 7-1 loss for San Juan.
The Broncos lone run came in the bottom of the third when Lopez hit a solo homerun to make the score 5-1. Bingham would add two more runs in the top of the fourth, resulting in a 7-1 final in favor of the Miners.
Lopez’s homerun was also the Broncos only hit of the game.
Perkins got the start for San Juan, pitching all four innings where she gave up six hits and walked one.
The third game was the charm for San Juan on day two, snapping a two-game losing streak against the Murray Spartans 5-4.
The Broncos got on the scoreboard first with one run in the bottom of the second. San Juan then added two more in the third before the Spartans scored their first run in the fourth to cut the Bronco lead to two runs, 3-1.
Murray took the lead in the fifth, 4-3, after scoring three runs in the top of the inning. But San Juan wasn’t done at the plate and drove in two runs in the bottom of the fifth to get the 5-4 win.
Su’eSu’e led the Broncos with two hits, including a homerun and two RBIs. Lopez, Palmer, Bowers, Black, and Squires each had a hit in the game. Bowers added a pair of RBIs, while Squires finished with one.
Pitching all five innings for the Broncos was Bowers, who gave up just four runs and struck out five in the win.
San Juan seemed to be in complete control in their final game of the tournament against Duchesne. The Broncos built a seven-run lead after scoring one run in the first and six in the top of the third.
The Eagles made things interesting, though, in the bottom of the third, as they scored six runs before San Juan got the third and final out of the inning to hold off Duchesne 7-6.
Squires was perfect at the plate, going two for two with a homerun and a RBI to lead San Juan’s offense. Swenson, Lopez, Lacy, Su’eSu’e, Black, and Begaye finished with one hit each in the win.
Bowers went three innings for the Broncos and gave up seven hits, while striking out two and walking three.
Track & field
The San Juan track teams had another good week of competition, as they continue to prepare for their final meets of the year, including the BYU Invitational, Region 15 Championships, and the Utah High School Activities Association 3A State Championships.
Their most recent meet was held on Friday, April 27 in Vernal, UT where the girls team led the way with a fifth place finish, and the boys finished sixth.
In addition to the usual races, they also held a 4x100 Relay for the “Throwers” just for fun.
Winning the relay in the boys division is the team of Hyatt Todachinnie, Tyson Billsie, Jens Jones, and Kian Conway. These not-so-speedy speed demons defeated four other teams for bragging rights, including Union, Altamont, Uintah, and Carbon.
Individuals scoring points for the girls team include Delaney Palmer, fifth in the 200 Meters and Delaney Palmer, fourth in the 400 Meters. In the 1600 Meters, Jessica Walker was fourth and Nizhoni Warren was sixth. Jessica Walker also placed third in the 3200 Meters.
Rachel Barton was first in the 100 Meter Hurdles.In the 300 Meter Hurdles, Shae Nielson placed sixth and Rachel Barton placed seventh.
Shae Nielson, Tasiah Little, Rachel Barton, and Delaney Palmer were third in the 4x100 Relay.
Katie Giddings was sixth in the Shot Put, and Katie Giddings placed third in the Discus. Placing seventh in the Long Jump was Delaney Palmer.
Individuals scoring points for the boys team include Ethan Vess, second, and Jaxon Torgerson, fourth, in the 100 Meters.
Yakeisin Tso placed seventh in the 110 Meter Hurdles, and Yakeisin Tso was sixth in the 300 Meter Hurdles.
Ethan Vess, Lymir Benn, Kian Conway, and Jaxon Torgerson were fifth in the 4x100 Relay.
Jens Jones was second in the Shot Put, Hyatt Todachinnie was sixth in the Discus, and Kian Conway was eighth in the Javelin.
High Jumper Jaxon Torgerson placed fifth.