It was no surprise when the Lady Dragon Softball team was awarded the 3A District Tournament first place trophy, but the crowd still went wild as the MHS team collected their 13th consecutive district title.  After a season of domination over their conference opponents, the post-season tournament seemed to be a mere formality.  The berth to the state might have been an obvious assumption, but it still required to step up to the plate to make it happen. 

And make it happen they did, smashing the competition in each of their tournament games!  Throughout their three games, the Lady Dragons played 13 innings for a combined score 38-2.

Malad opened their tournament play against the Soda Springs Cardinals in their cold and windy afternoon game.  Despite the less than ideal conditions, the Lady Dragons made quick work out of the game as they scored 16 runs in just three innings.

It didn’t take long for the MHS hitting to settle in as they played through the bottom of the first inning, scoring 6 runs to open the game by Riglee Peterson, Hadley Summers, Bostyn Combs, Karlee Blasidell, Brylee Oglesbee, and Teagan Daniels.  Collecting an impressive 10 runs in the second inning and holding the Cardinals scoreless in the top of the third inning, ended the game early.

Liddia Gonzalez collected the win for the Lady Dragons, allowing zero runs on 1 hit, walking 1 and striking out 5.  Freshman Sarah Toone stepped into the pitcher’s circle for the third inning of the game to strike out 2 batters, committing zero errors, walks, or hits.

From behind the plate, Summers led with 3 hits in 3 at bats, hitting 2 singles in the first inning and a double in the second inning, scoring 2 runs while also collecting 3 RBIs.  Combs collected 3 hits on 3 at bats as well, scoring 3 runs with 1 RBI.

Advancing to the semi-final round after their win, the Lady Dragons faced off against the Declo Hornets Tuesday, May 6.  The two teams went five innings on the sunny afternoon game, the MHS team claiming the victory 10-0.

The second inning was all it took for Malad to take the lead, scoring all 10 runs in a single inning.  Combs led the Lady Dragons in runs, scoring 2 on 2 hits on 3 plate appearances with 2 RBIs.  Aubrey Shulz was valuable behind the plate as well, smashing 3 hits on 3 at bats, collecting 1 run and 1 RBI.

Gonzalez started as pitcher for Malad for the second day in a row, lasting 4 innings before sharing the circle with teammate Toone.  Gonzalez threw an errorless game, giving up zero runs on 3 hits, walking zero and striking out 7.  

With their spot in the district championship game secured, the Lady Dragons patiently waited to learn their final opponent of the tournament- the Wendell Trojans or the Declo Hornets.  The two teams split their regular season games, but it was the Hornets that claimed the win in their first matchup of the tournament.  Despite having already gone 5 innings with Malad, Declo pulled out a second win to advance them to the championship round.

From the first pitch of the game, it was clear that the Lady Dragons would continue to dominate through the district tournament.  The Hornet hitter managed a ground hit to Daniels near third base, but wasn’t near fast enough to beat the ball before Malad forced the out at first base.  Declo’s second batter connected with pitch as well, sending it to shortstop Shulz, who got the assist after Tylee Venable forced a second out at first.  Venable collected a final putout off the assist from Peterson at pitcher, to end the inning.  

Peterson, first up to bat for Malad, hit a home run on the second pitch to take a quick lead.  Before collecting three outs, the Lady Dragons put up four more runs off hits by Summers, Logan Maroney, Toone, and Oglesbee to make the score 5-0.  

Back in the field, the Malad defense forced three quick outs, one at first base followed by two strikeouts.  The bottom of the second inning saw the MHS team add two more runs before Declo shut down their offense.

But the Lady Dragons made quick work of their time on the field, once again forcing three Hornet outs to put them batting at the plate again.  Malad collected five innings throughout the inning.  Senior Anistyn Tovey started the third inning scoring, her first hit and run of the year as she worked to battle back from a serious wrist injury she sustained late in the fall season.

Up 12-0 at the top of the fourth inning, the MHS team was surprised to see the fight still behind the Declo team as they put up two runs off three big hits to the outfield amidst two forced outs.  Unrattled by the Hornet offense, Peterson closed out the inning with three final pitches to strike out the last batter.  

Malad collected three consecutive outs to end the inning.  Declo went scoreless as well as they played the top of the fifth.  With Malad still up by 10 runs, the game was called and the Lady Dragons were once again named the 3A District Champs.

Following the final teams designations and rankings to the state tournament, Malad was given the top seed in the bracket and are scheduled to play the Firth Cougars in their opening game on Thursday, May 15 at 3 pm.

“We are excited and ready to play at state,” commented Head Coach Bri Adams.  “These girls have long memories and remember the hurt of coming in second last year.  It was a great accomplishment, but they have higher goals than that and are determined to play at their very best this tournament.  

“They have grown a lot, especially through some of the tough games we had this season.  There were some losses but also some big wins,” continued Coach Adams.  “Our schedule strength not only helped us play at a different level this year, but also helped us with our rankings going into state.”

Throughout the season the Lady Dragons have held onto the mantra, “We are Dragons bringing FIRE,” and as they play into their last week of the 2025 they are truly fired up, ready to light up the field and scorch any opponent that comes between them at that final victory.