High school softball: Grantsville advances to second straight 3A title game

The Grantsville Cowboys came into the 3A state softball tournament as the No. 6 seed, but you wouldn’t be able to tell by how they’ve been playing as of late.

Grantsville defeated the No. 2 seed North Sanpete Hawks 6-4 Friday morning and then took down the No. 1-seeded Emery Spartans 17-11 later in the afternoon. In both games, the Cowboys entered the seventh inning trailing but rallied to victory.

“We have some great momentum heading into the final day of play,” head coach Tony Cloward said. “We are ready for whoever we get matched up against.”

Against North Sanpete, Grantsville was able to score five runs in the top of the seventh to secure the comeback win. Against Emery, they were trailing 10-9 before rallying for eight runs in the final frame to pull off a second upset on the day.

“I’ve always preached to these girls that we will always be a good hitting team, and they really came through on the sticks today in these last two games,” Cloward said.

Pitcher Payten Bytheway played the role of star for Grantsville Friday night, pitching a complete game to strike out four Spartans and allow four runs. But it was her batting that truly shined, going 5 for 5 on the day with a double, home run and four runs driven in.

“She was fabulous today,” Cloward said of Bytheway. “They are a good hitting team, and we just couldn’t get an out. Payten just hung in there and she just didn’t let it affect her. She was confident on both sides of the ball today.”

Grantsville will be attempting to win its sixth state championship in the last seven seasons, only missing the championship game in 2022 since this run of success started in 2017.

“This run is a little more special, a different kind of special,” Cloward said. “Last year I had eight seniors that just knew what they wanted, came to work and were very professional. This year I have all these youngsters that have had to grow up. They had to fill big shoes, and they’ve done it. I’m so proud of these ladies. They overcome all the odds. We’re the No. 6 seed, back in the state championship game. I start six sophomores and freshmen. We’re just playing good ball the best time of the year.”

Grantsville will play the winner of the 10 a.m. game on Saturday between the top two seeds of the tournament: Emery and North Sanpete. North Sanpete has won two games in the one-loss bracket to advance to the final day of play.