Knights take Pl. Grove apart from opening bat

Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Apr 4, 2008 by Jaclyn Olsen

PLEASANT GROVE -- The Lone Peak bats started hot and kept up the great swings all game long as they took charge in the Region 4 game at Pleasant Grove, eventually winning 13-3.

The Knights stacked up six extra base hits against the Vikings in their 21 total and took apart the Pleasant Grove team from the opening bat.

"We've worked hard on that issue, worked hard on starting out focused and warming up better. We've also worked hard on our hitting, and it paid off," said Lone Peak coach Janae Forsey, who was not only happy with the hitters on her team but was thrilled with her starting pitcher as well.

Knight starter sophomore Whitney Stevens held the volatile Pleasant Grove bats to a mere four hits while striking out 12 and only walking a single player.

"That's by far the best game she's thrown. She was on target today," added Forsey about her pitcher.

But it helped to relax the pitcher a little bit that she found herself with a four-run lead before she even had to enter the circle to face the Vikings.

Jeni Keller led off the game with a double, and six hits later, the Knights found themselves with four runs. Singles by Bailie Hicken and Becca Vincent were followed by a walk to Raven King and a bases-clearing triple to catcher Katie Schoepf, who picked up three RBIs in her first at bat and didn't cool off later. She added a double and a single to her total later in the game.

She wasn't the only Lone Peak hitter to pick up a trio of hits in the contest as Bailie Hicken had a pair of singles before shooting an infield home run to deep center field. King added a double to her pair of singles and a base on balls, Vincent added a double and a pair of singles to the barrage, and Cami Trinnaman smacked three singles en route to the plethora of runs by the Knights.

Stevens added a pair of singles herself in addition to her solid pitching effort, and Nicole Bean finished with a pair of singles and two RBIs. "They're really starting to gel together as a team," Forsey said of her squad that is now 2-1 in Region 4 play with victories over Timpanogos and the Vikings and a loss to league leader Spanish Fork.

"It's gonna be a dogfight in every game this year. Every team in this league is good," added Forsey.

E-mail: jolsen@desnews.com