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PROVO — There's a lot of pressure on the leadoff hitter, let alone on the leadoff hitter of the seven-time state champion Spanish Fork softball team.
If Jade Romero ever feels it, she doesn't show it; after all, she's been dreaming of playing for this team since she was 5 years old.
Romero went 3-for-4 with a double, four RBIs, three runs scored and a sacrifice fly; and winning pitcher Avery Sapp allowed just two runs and two hits as Spanish Fork rolled to 15-2 win over Lehi in the first game of the best-of-three championship series Thursday at BYU's Gail Miller Field.
"I get a little bit (nervous), but I love the nerves," said Romero, a freshman who watched Spanish Fork win last year's title on her phone on a camping trip. "It just gets me going.
"I know that if I get on, the team behind me has my back and they'll just follow."
The converted second baseman-turned-shortstop was a leader in the infield for a Dons squad that held the Pioneers (24-2) to just two hits. That included Maci Wall's leadoff double in the second, in which Wall came home a couple batters later on a stolen base for Lehi's first run of the game.
But that was a rare offensive play from Lehi, and why not? Most of Spanish Fork's players have been playing since childhood, including Romero, who started with baseball when she was 5, switched to softball at 8, and never looked back.
"She's one of the most fun players I've ever seen. She played baseball or softball her whole life, and she's just here to play," Spanish Fork coach Natalie Jarvis said of Romero, joking that she's been wanting the sprited freshman on her team since she was 10 years old. "She's just that kid that is going to get dirty, doesn't care if she gets hurt, and she just goes all out all the time."
Spanish Fork (27-4) jumped out early with six runs each in the second and third inning, including back-to-back run-scoring doubles from Romero and Tatum Hall in the second. The Dons added six more in the third, batting around through Aubree Leonard's two-out, two-run double in the frame to go up 14-2.
The defending champs added one more in the fourth through Romero's sac fly that drove in Ellie Olson to help wrap up the 15-2 win in five innings.
Hall went 2-or-4 with a double, two RBIs and a run scored for the Dons, and Peyton Hall was 2-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored. Sapp, who fanned five to secure the win, was 2-for-4 with a sac fly, two RBIs and a run scored.
"We showed up to hit, and we felt good about it," said Jarvis, whose team pounded out 17 hits. "But they all want to hit; they all want to make Something happen every time. And I love when they are."
The Dons can wrap up their fourth title in seven seasons with a win over Lehi at 11 a.m. Friday morning at BYU. If the Pioneers win that game, a winner-take-all third game will decide the championship around 4:30 p.m. MDT.
"I have great leaders on this team," Jarvis said. "My seniors are leaders, my juniors are stepping up to be leaders, and it's been fun to watch that transition."
