Provo • When Riverton gave up a run in the fifth inning during game two of the 6A softball championship, the team was in unchartered territory.
It was the Silverwolves’ first conceded run of the postseason.
One and done. Riverton wasted no time getting back on the attack, with an eventual 11–1 mercy rule victory over West giving the program its second-consecutive state championship.
A responsive five-run sixth inning was led by a three-run homerun from Jolie Mayfield and completed an early offensive explosion. The onslaught was also a continuation of the season as a whole and Thursday night’s game one, which saw the Silverwolves walk away 14–0 victors after five innings.
In order to bounce back against the only semblance of adversity the team faced this postseason, players say they focused on each pitch in front of them instead of the trophy they were chasing. Korth explained the team even practiced that mental aspect of the game in preparation for facing every opponent’s best shot.
“What we’ve been focusing on is keeping a level head, keeping our emotions. Even when things are going good you got to keep on staying focused,” she said.
The start of Friday’s game had all the makings of another early rout for the 28–1 Silverwolves. They raced out to a 6–0 lead after two innings, led by Alexis Shaver’s pair of triples. She finished the game with three hits and two RBIs.
But West did not reach the state championship by accident. They proved their own abilities as their defense settled down in later innings, stranding Riverton runners on base and preventing further damage. The Panthers’ hitters also started to rattle Korth, with their persistence paying off on Tapusoa’s shot to left field.
Ultimately undeterred, Korth quickly showed why her season ERA was just 0.57. She struck out a batter to end the fifth before doing the same to the first two in the sixth. She then fielded a grounder for the inning’s third out.
After Mayfield’s homer in the bottom of the inning, three consecutive hitters loaded the bases. Chloe Woods then sealed the championship with a walk-off single, a moment she described as “unbelievable.”
Korth finished with 10 strikeouts. She also had her fair share of contributions at the plate, recording three hits. Both her and Kylee Ruesch had two RBIs. The near-perfect performance from Korth and her teammates were just a part of the total team effort head coach Katelyn Elliott said stuck with the program all season.
“(Our leaders) never belittle anybody, nobody’s ever beneath them. They put their arm around those that are younger than them and bring them along with them. Everybody’s carrying the load on this team,” she said.
