Herriman Softball defeats Mountain Ridge in comeback thriller

By Justin Adams

Herriman softball head coach Heidi McKissick couldn’t have asked for a better birthday present: her team coming back from a big deficit to defeat cross-town rivals Mountain Ridge 11-10.

Both teams came out firing on offense. The Mountain Ridge Sentinels scored three runs in the top of the first inning, which the Mustangs matched thanks to a three-run homer by Tanzie Smith.

The Sentinels then added another run in the 2nd inning and another five runs in the 3rd inning to take a 9-3 lead. A lot of teams would start feeling down after giving up that big of a lead, but not the Herriman Mustangs.

“We just know there’s seven innings, and you have to play one inning at a time. That’s what we try to instill in them,” said McKissick.

And that’s exactly what they did, as the team chipped away at the lead by scoring two runs every inning for the next three innings.

Keira Rodriguez fields the ball during Herriman's 11-10 victory over Mountain Ridge.

Two of those runs came courtesy of another home run, this one by McKenzie Quintero, her seventh of the season. She also leads the team in hits (27), runs (25), RBI’s (25), and batting average (.692), according to player stats on Maxpreps.com.

She’s not the only one that knows how to swing it though - five different Herriman players have recorded a home run this season and the team has scored a total of 163 runs through 12 games.

“Our bats are amazing. We hit two out of the park today, which was not a shock for us” McKissick said.

After tying up the game in the fifth inning, both teams went scoreless in the sixth, setting the stage for a dramatic seventh inning.

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The dramatics started when Mountain Ridge scored a go-ahead run in the top of the seventh. If Herriman was going to win this game, they would have to come from behind once again. But did they have enough left in the tank after already overcoming a 6-run deficit? Short answer: yes they did.

In fact, the Mustangs did some of their best hitting in that final inning with multiple batters getting on base before Mountain Ridge had recorded an out. First Remi Gasser tied the game up with a hit that sent a runner home and set up a game-winning runner on third. Then Kinlee McDermaid finished the job, recording another hit and a game-winning RBI.

“Knilee always steps up when we need her,” said McKissick. ““She’s been a great leader. She can play anywhere and go anywhere.”

The Herriman dugout reacts to the game-winning hit by Kinlee McDermaid.

The win brings the Mustangs to a record of 11-1 on the year, and a 3-0 record in an extremely competitive region, “easily the toughest region in the state” according to McKissick.

In fact, every year since 2015, the state championship game has included at least one team from the southwest valley. Any given year, it’s a pretty good bet that one of either Herriman, Riverton, or Bingham is going to walk away with the championship at the end of the season. For the Mustangs, that last occurred in 2018-2019, when they won back-to-back championships.

Their campaign to compete for a region and state championship continues next week with a double-whammy as they take on Riverton April 9 and Bingham April 11.

To see our full photo gallery from the game, visit our Facebook page.

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