‘Burn the boat’: Back at state, No. 4 Box Elder softball swings and misses 9-5 to No. 1 Salem Hills in semifinal split
Bees miss championship series for second consecutive season
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- Box Elder’s Kennadie Blackmer winds up her pitch during the 5A state softball semifinals versus Salem Hills on Wednesday, May 21, 2025, at the Valley Regional Softball Complex in Taylorsville.
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- Box Elder sophomore Lucy Griffin slides into second base during the 5A state softball semifinals versus Olympus on Wednesday, May 21, 2025, at the Valley Regional Softball Complex in Taylorsville.
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- Box Elder’s Kailee Hall bunts into the infield during the 5A state softball semifinals versus Olympus on Wednesday, May 21, 2025, at the Valley Regional Softball Complex in Taylorsville.
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- Box Elder’s Alexis Hales is jubilant after earning the third out at first base during the 5A state softball semifinals versus Olympus on Wednesday, May 21, 2025, at the Valley Regional Softball Complex in Taylorsville.
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- Box Elder’s Lucy Braegger leans into her pitch during the 5A state softball semifinals versus Olympus on Wednesday, May 21, 2025, at the Valley Regional Softball Complex in Taylorsville.
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- Box Elder’s Lucy Braegger fires off a pitch during the 5A state softball semifinals versus Olympus on Wednesday, May 21, 2025, at the Valley Regional Softball Complex in Taylorsville.
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- Box Elder coach Brian Merrill meets with his team along the third baseline between innings during the 5A state softball semifinals versus Olympus on Wednesday, May 21, 2025, at the Valley Regional Softball Complex in Taylorsville.
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- Box Elder’s Izibel Mason watches her hit sail during the 5A state softball semifinals versus Olympus on Wednesday, May 21, 2025, at the Valley Regional Softball Complex in Taylorsville.
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- Box Elder’s Izibel Mason, tagging second base before Olympus’ Eliza Johnson, turns over a hit from second base during the 5A state softball semifinals versus Olympus on Wednesday, May 21, 2025, at the Valley Regional Softball Complex in Taylorsville.
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- Box Elder’s Izibel Mason slides safely into third base during the 5A state softball semifinals versus Salem Hills on Wednesday, May 21, 2025, at the Valley Regional Softball Complex in Taylorsville.
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- Box Elder’s Lucy Griffin (left) celebrates a run with Brooke Richards (right) during the 5A state softball semifinals versus Salem Hills on Wednesday, May 21, 2025, at the Valley Regional Softball Complex in Taylorsville.
TAYLORSVILLE — Box Elder softball dug the roads needed to reach the 5A state semifinals with No. 1 Salem Hills on Wednesday, but the hits dried up late and the No. 4 Bees ran short on answers in a 9-5 loss at the Valley Regional Softball Complex.
For a second straight season, Box Elder traveled an hour-plus to end its season on the semifinal stage, ultimately missing out on the state championship series in the same fashion that ended the Bees (28-5) and Brian Merrill’s ride last spring against Spanish Fork.
The constant between both runs is Kennadie Blackmer, the starter against Salem Hills hardly a half hour after closing out No. 5 Olympus 13-4 in the one-loss contest of Wednesday’s semifinal round.
Blackmer (6.0 IP, 11 H, 9 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 8 K), cleared for the postseason following a foot injury earlier this spring, returned to the pitching staff full-time this week. The sophomore went toe-to-toe with Salem Hills (27-4) starter Keyana Murray after closing up the Olympus matchup.
“I was fortunate to get cleared, but I’m definitely not as sharp as I could be,” Blackmer said. “Especially this week, but I was glad to be back and able to throw some innings for our team and do the best I can.”
A Lucy Griffin double paved the way for an Izibel Mason RBI single in the top of the first, scoring the ballgame’s first run for an early 1-0 Bees lead. Blackmer recorded three strikeouts in the bottom side, but the first saw Olympus draw a run off an error by catcher Maclee Willard.
Jenna Marble reclaimed a 2-1 Box Elder lead in the top of the second, singling to right and scoring Madeline Jeppsen from second base. Brooke Richards extended that lead by one, grounding an RBI single into center field atop the third; Kailee Hall tacked on another, doubling into left field for a 4-1 lead in the fourth.
A single, strikeout and a walk handed down by Blackmer preceded a disastrous two-RBI double by Jocile Norman in the bottom of the fourth. Camryn Guest, grounding into center field for a base hit, and Samaya Haveron, matching Norman’s two-RBI double, flipped the tables for a 6-4 lead, the Skyhawks’ first of the afternoon.
Such a sequence hardly summarizes how good of a squad Salem Hills brought to state, Merrill said.
“That was the nature of the game,” Merrill said. “They capitalized when we couldn’t, they got a few more runs than we did.”
Jeppsen managed a two-out RBI single, shaving a run off Salem Hills’ lead in the top of the fifth, but Olivia Daniels stranded Richards and Jeppsen with a pop-out. After two singles, Blackmer got a pop-out on the bottom half of the inning and stayed frosty for her seventh strikeout to strand both baserunners.
The Bees went scoreless against Norman, who relieved Murray atop the sixth, in 1-2-3 fashion. Reeling in some insurance, Salem Hills picked up three more runs against Blackmer: a one-out, two-RBI single by Emmery Wilson and RBI single by Audree Stokes.
In search of four runs, Box Elder ran short of chances in the seventh. A Mason lineout, and pop-outs from Blackmer and Richards, ended the Bees’ postseason run. Coming up short in her senior season, first baseman Alexis Hales said the character for a state run still exists.
Hales, a senior preparing to study law at BYU in the fall, said Merrill leaves her with a fairly simple mantra: Don’t undersell yourself.
“Every year, we just want to burn the boat more,” Hales said. “I think us, as a senior class, tried to work with the girls to where we can win, we can push hard and if we fall short, it’s OK because you learn so much from losing. If there’s one thing I hope to leave, it’s to give it your all because it sucks to lose (and) next year I really think they can make it.”
Box Elder added its 19th region title this season but hasn’t sniffed the state championship series or final since 2018.
“We talked consistently about (the) program,” Merrill said. “We’re trying to build a program where people can count on Box Elder being here at the final four, and being here in the last couple of teams standings. We lose our seniors (but) we try to encourage our underclassmen to come up and continue a legacy that we can hand down.”
BOX ELDER 13, OLYMPUS 4
TAYLORSVILLE — An overturned third out in the third inning made way for a two-run home run by Hall, fueling No. 4 Box Elder’s 13-4 victory in a rematch No. 5 Olympus in the one-loss portion of Wednesday’s 5A state softball semifinals on Wednesday morning.
Lucy Braegger (4.1 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K) earned the win, with Blackmer (2.2 IP, 1 H, 6 K) commanding the zone late. The Bees defeated Olympus (22-5) twice this postseason, 10-2 on Tuesday and again Wednesday to reach the rematch with No. 1 Salem Hills.
Mason and Hales, turning a double play in the top of the first, and Braegger, picking up two Ks by the end of the second, kept the Titans quiet through two frames. Richards, singling for her first hit, helped put two Bees on the bags with no outs in the bottom of the second; Olympus shut down the next three batters 1-2-3.
With a two-out single into left field, Hales recorded the game’s first RBI, scoring Hall, then Griffin scored following a reversed third out that originally capped the Bees at just one run in the third. Now up 2-0, Hales opened the floodgates for a Willard two-RBI single, a Marble two-RBI triple, and a two-run homer by Hall, her fourth of the season, to make it 8-nil Bees by the fourth.
Jocelyn Stern got Olympus on the board with a two-out RBI single in the top of the fourth, but the Bees quickly threatened with another bases-loaded situation, with no outs, in the bottom side. Intentionally walking Hales to fill the third bag, Turner struck out Katelyn Oki and forced two pop-up outs to evade another doors-open hit.
Putting two runs on base to begin the fifth, Jaedin Mugleston, dropping a two-RBI single into center field, and Charlotte Comer, doubling into center field for two more, sliced the Bees’ lead in half, 8-4, with one out. Relieving Braegger, Blackmer struck out Allison Robles and Stern back-to-back to end the side.
Blackmer (1.93 ERA) and Braegger (1.93) competed for the starting role all season long, tallying 275 combined strikeouts for the Bees.
“Being able to prove that I’m the best that day, and that I’m the one that’s putting in all that work (and) moving the ball the best,” Blackmer said. “It’s been really good to have someone as competitive as (Braegger) to push me this season to get better.”
Blackmer shoved atop the sixth, picking up three more strikeouts to silence Olympus. Box Elder stirred up the bats again in the bottom of the sixth, rolling three hits and an error for four extra runs.
Working light up 13-4, Blackmer allowed two baserunners on a single and an error but struck out Comer in the next at-bat, and Robles grounded into the final out at third base.
Connect with sports reporter Conner Becker via email at cbecker@standard.net and X @ctbecker.
