PROVO — After falling in back-to-back seasons in the 4A softball championship series, Desert Hills' senior class finally reached the mountain top.
Lulu West scattered five hits with six strikeouts as the Thunder rolled up their first 4A championship in program history with a 4-2 win over Bear River on Saturday at BYU's Gail Miller Field.
One day after pitching a gem — allowing just one earned run on three hits with 14 strikeouts in a 3-1 win over the Bears — the UConn signee was once again at her best, not just from the circle but in the infield, tracking down infield flies and making the right play when the ball was put into play, too.
"All growing up, Lulu played second base or pitcher — and she plays that for us, too," Desert Hills coach Heidi Taylor said of West. "But we talk about pitchers being athletes … and don't just have to go to first every time.
"She's athletic; she's played basketball for three years. She's just an athlete."
Fellow senior Bailey Lee smacked two doubles for Desert Hills (31-3), and Riley Greene added a double and an RBI for a club that did all the scoring it would need with a three-run third inning to pull away for the victory.
Bri Gardiner pulled a pair back with a two-run homer in the top of the sixth for Bear River (26-7), which had won three of the last five 4A titles since the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled the spring championship season.
That included a 3-2 win over the Thunder a year ago, when Marley Tisdol plated Aubree Fry with the game-winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning to clinch the Bears' state-record 12th championship since the Utah High School Activities Association sanctioned the sport in 1990.
This year, the heroics belonged to Desert Hills and a senior class seven deep led by UConn signees West and Greene who had longed waited for their turn.
Now the wait is over.
