In their elimination game against the Bonneville Lakers, the Tooele Buffaloes softball team was eliminated from the 5A State Softball Championships on Wednesday afternoon.
In what was technically their third game of the day, the Buffaloes were unable to make a comeback after falling behind 2-0 early on.
After the Lakers scored the opening two runs at the top of the first, the Buffaloes were held to two hits over the next two frames and allowed two more Lakers runs to fall behind 4-0 after two-and-a-half innings.
Then, at the bottom of the third, Tooele got on the scoresheet when a triple by Ayden Fitch drove in two runs to bring the score to 4-2 in favor of Bonneville. This margin stood for a majority of the remainder of the game, until the final inning.
Despite a productive bottom of the fourth, during which the Buffaloes had two runners on base off two-straight singles, putting them in scoring position. Bonneville stopped Tooele in its tracks after a double play and a ground out ended the inning.
The team didn’t fare much better in the fifth and sixth innings, as the Buffaloes were held scoreless. Although Tooele managed to load the bases at the bottom of the fifth, Bonneville shut them down and left all three runners stranded heading into the top of the sixth.
Following another scoreless inning, the Lakers pulled away at the top of the seventh when their fifth batter in the lineup hit a grand slam to pad their lead at 8-2. Tooele was unable to score at the bottom of the inning and Bonneville won the game, advancing them to the next round and eliminating the Buffaloes from the tournament.
Tooele pitchers Allie Anderson and Aubrie Hansen combined for five strikeouts and eight hits, with Hansen throwing four of the strikeouts. Kelsey Shields led the Buffaloes in hits, going two-for-three in her three at-bats, while Fitch led the team in scoring with two RBIs on one hit.