Northern Utah softball team wins title at Fastpitch World Series in Ogden | News, Sports, Jobs

OGDEN — A girls fastpitch softball team with ties to Northern Utah won a national 14u World Series tournament title Saturday, sponsored by Triple Crown Sports.

Forty-seven teams from places including Montana and Hawaii competed. Girls ages 13 to 15 competed at four locations in Ogden: 4th Street Park, Miles Goodyear Park, Ben Lomond High School and the Weber County Fairgrounds.

Diamond Dogs (Ogden) won the Gold Championship match at 4th Street Park by defeating Boise Blast Cole (Idaho) 6-0 to close out the tournament.

Kennadie Blackmer, who pitched as a freshman at Box Elder High this spring, threw a complete game shutout, scattering three hits, striking out six and allowing two hits.

“I mostly threw a rise ball. With some of the girls, I threw a few curve balls and changeups. I relied on the rise ball and it worked,” Blackmer said of her dominant performance.

Blackmer also played a role on the bases, scoring the game’s first run on a wild pitch after holding Boise at bay through the first three innings.

Diamond Dogs added four more unearned runs in the fourth inning, including a second run by Blackmer. This is unusual, as most teams put baserunners on when the pitcher reaches base.

“We only had nine today because one of our players is injured, so we don’t have any substitutions,” Blackmer said. “But I’m fast enough to get around the bases pretty well.”

In a signature moment of the game, Boise threatened with a double and a single in the fifth inning to put runners on the corners with one out.

Blackmer retired the next batter, then Boise shortstop Josie Moorhouse hit a moonshot to deep left-center field that chased left fielder Lyla Leonhardt a few feet from the temporary fence, stopping at least two runs.

As often happens in sports, Leonhardt had an at-bat in the bottom of the fifth after the great play in the field and promptly doubled with one out. Catcher Ellie Koford drove Leonhardt home and the Diamond Dogs won by run rule.

Head coach Mandy Koford, who coached at Roy High and Fremont High and is in first place this year at new West Field High, reflected on her team’s victory.

“We wanted to throw our hat in the ring and see what we could do. To come out on top is what dreams are made of,” she said.

The winners played nine matches in the five-day tournament, going 3-1 in the group stage and a perfect 5-0 in the Gold Bracket round.

The Diamond Dogs players, playing in their hometowns and at their positions in the championship game, are: Blackmer, Willard (P); Leonhardt, Clearfield (LF); Ellie Koford, West Haven (C); Lucy Griffin, Brigham City (3B); Allee Carlston, Logan (CF); Cambree Pierson, West Haven (1B); Brinklee Hadley, West Haven (2B); Izi Mason, Brigham City (SS); Liv Broadbent, Plain City (RF); Kynzlee Miller, Brigham City; and Sarah Toone, Malad, Idaho.

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