San Juan Lady Bronco softball team sweeps weekend to remain undefeated on season

by Rhett Sifford
Sports Editor
The San Juan High School softball team continued to tear up the diamond this past weekend, notching four more wins to improve their season record to 13-0.
On Friday, March 27 the Lady Broncos traveled west to close out their season series with Parowan. San Juan scored early and often, crushing the Lady Rams 22-6.
The visitors plated eight runners in their opening at-bat and cruised for the remainder of the game. They scored in every inning, including a nine-run top of the fifth in the domination.
San Juan racked up a bevy of offensive stats in the game, hitting a trio of home runs and collecting 20 runs batted in. Averie Gilson, Kheirra Keith, and Miley Harrison all hit dingers in the win.
Gilson was 2-for-5 with three RBIs, Keith was 2-for-3 with two RBIs, and Harrison was 1-for-2 with one RBI. Madden Perkins, Morgann McPherson, and Keegan Palmer all went 3-for-4 on the day.
Palmer drove in three San Juan runs, McPherson two, and Perkins one. Perkins hit two doubles and a triple in the game. She also scored three times herself.
Khatira Keith was 1-for-4 at the plate, but she knocked in three Lady Broncos with a bases-clearing double. Ella Stearns was a perfect 2-for-2 with a double and an RBI.
Brooklyn Lameman and Lizzie Palmer both went 1-for-1 with an RBI apiece. Colee Crofts was 1-for-3 and scored a run. And Kynnedy Bingham and Ellie Beck both picked up one RBI each.
Khatira Keith got the win for the girls on the mound, allowing one hit and one run while striking out four of the nine batters she faced in the opening two innings.
On their way home from Parowan San Juan stopped in Richfield for a three-game tournament, dubbed the Spring Fling. They defeated three teams there, all hailing from the 3A classification.
Game one was the tightest with the Lady Broncos having to hold off a sixth-inning rally from North Sanpete to close out an 8-7 win.
San Juan scored two runs in the first inning, then added three more in the second to open a 5-0 lead. But the Lady Hawks steadily chipped away at the lead, scoring a couple in the third and one in the fourth to make it 5-3.
The Lady Broncos got a little breathing room with two runs in the top of the fifth and one more in the sixth to increase their lead back to five runs.
But North Sanpete plated four runs in the bottom of the sixth, nearly stunning San Juan with a big comeback. It was another solid offensive outpouring for the Lady Broncos as they hit three home runs again.
Ella Stearns helped her own cause with one of those and Madden Perkins drilled the other two. Perkins was a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate in the win with the two homers, one double, and four RBIs.
Stearns was also perfect, going 2-for-2 with a homer, a double, and two RBIs. Khatira Keith was 2-for-3 with a double. Miley Harrison and Lizzie Palmer were both 1-for-3. Palmer got the final RBI for San Juan.
Stearns was the winning pitcher, allowing seven hits and three runs while striking out eight in 4.1 innings. Khatira Keith had a tough game in relief, allowing the four sixth-inning runs on five hits, fanning two.
It was a great win for the Lady Broncos, and it was just the second loss of the season for the Lady Hawks. They faced a similar team in the host Richfield Lady Wildcats in game two of the tourney.
Richfield came into the game with a 9-5 record, and the game was close early on. San Juan opened the scoring with a three-run top of the first and Richfield answered with a one-run at-bat.
The Lady Broncos plated one runner in the top of the second and the Lady Wildcats answered with two runs. Then Richfield shut out San Juan in the top of the third and scored a run to tie the game at 4-4.
But the Lady Broncos exploded for nine runs in the fourth and six more in the fifth, blowing the game open. Richfield scored a run in each of those innings, but that wasn’t enough to stave off the mercy-rule final of 19-6.
Madden Perkins led the way offensively for San Juan with a perfect 4-for-4 game at the plate. She hit one double and drove in three runs.
Khatira Keith not only got the win on the mound, but she also collected four hits at the plate. She was 4-for-5 with a double and two RBIs.
Morgann McPherson was 3-for-4 with a double. Colee Crofts and Keegan Palmer were both 2-for-3 in the win with a double apiece. Palmer drove in three runs and Crofts drove in one.
Kheirra Keith collected two hits with a double and three RBIs. Ella Stearns, Averie Gilson, and Lizzie Palmer all had one double and one RBI each in the game.
Khatira Keith again was the winner for San Juan. She pitched four innings, allowing five runs on seven hits with five strikeouts.
The Lady Broncos closed out a very productive road trip with a convincing 16-0 win over Emery in the third and final game of the Richfield Spring Fling.
San Juan led 5-0 heading into the top of the fourth inning, but they plated 11 runners in their fourth-inning at-bat to close out the Lady Spartans.
Lizzie Palmer and Ella Stearns were both 4-for-4 in the win with two RBIs apiece also. Palmer hit a triple and a double for the Lady Broncos.
Colee Crofts and Averie Gilson collected three hits each with two and three RBIs respectively. Gilson was 3-for-3 with a double and she also scored three runs.
Khatira Keith, Miley Harrison, and Keegan Palmer all had hits in the win and all drove in one San Juan run each.
Ella Stearns pitched her first no-hitter of the season. She narrowly missed a perfect game when she hit two batters. But Stearns struck out seven of the 14 batters she faced in a very impressive, dominant effort.
Speaking of Stearns, she appears in the top 15 in several categories across all classifications in the state at this point of the season.
She’s tied for 15th with a .643 batting average, tied for eighth with five home runs, eighth with a 1.262 slugging percentage, and tied for fifth with 29 RBIs.
Madden Perkins is fourth among all classifications in the state with 32 runs scored, and she’s tied for tenth with 19 stolen bases. Kheirra Keith is tied for 13th in the state with 24 runs batted in.
The Lady Broncos have two games this week. They played the rival Grand County Lady Red Devils in Moab on Tuesday, March 31 after the San Juan Record print deadline.
They’ll host Beaver on Friday, April 3 in what should be a fun Region 18 showdown in Blanding. The Lady Beavers were 8-4 to begin the week and the two teams played to a 23-19 final in Beaver on March 17.