Staying in the winner’s bracket this year is doing wonders for the Tooele softball team in the 4A state tournament. Having the pitching and defense to complete two straight shutouts on Wednesday doesn’t hurt either.

Playing tough together and staying focused on every pitch has helped the Buffaloes win two consecutive games in the winner’s bracket. Tooele bats showed off their power in the first game on Wednesday as they pulled away from Spanish Fork for an 8-0 victory.

In the second game, Lehi kept the game closer but the Buffaloes got the runs when they needed them, which included a clutch two-run homer by Hadli Sorenson for a 3-0 victory over the Pioneers at the Valley Softball Complex in Taylorsville.

With his team being only one win away from the 4A state championship, coach Steve Snow can see many changes from this year compared to last year.

“I am really pleased to see how relaxed the girls are this year,” Snow said. “You can see that this is a group of players that have been here before and that they have the needed experience.”

With Tooele ticketed for the 4A title game, either Lehi or Spanish Fork would have to knock off the Buffaloes two times to pull the state championship from Tooele.

“We just need to focus on one pitch at a time and not get ahead of ourselves,” said coach Snow. “When you stop playing one pitch at a time is where a softball team can get in trouble.”

Tooele 8 — Spanish Fork 0

Tooele brought out the big sticks in their first game Wednesday against Spanish Fork as they pounded out 11 hits en route to a 8-0 victory over the Dons.

Mattie Snow, Hadli Sorenson, Marissa Mendenhall and Whitney Holt each picked up two hits in the victory while Mendenhall was the big run producer with four RBIs in the game.

Snow picked up a victory in the circle by shutting out Spanish Fork in seven innings and only allowing four hits while striking out five.

Tooele had a chance in the first inning but was turned away but they would not be denied in the third inning. Having two outs did not deter the Buffaloes from constructing a rally as Sorenson started it all with a double.

With a runner in scoring position, Cheyella Myers roped a double that hit the chalk of the third base line to give Tooele their first run. Mendenhall followed that up by hitting a two-run home run to opposite field for a 3-0 Tooele advantage.

Spanish Fork had a couple chances to score in the second and fourth innings but were quickly turned away by Snow.

The Buffaloes went right back to work in the fifth when Snow and Sorenson hit consecutive one-out singles to get the inning going. Tooele took advantage of a Spanish Fork throwing error that allowed a run then Mendenhall continued her solid game by nailing a double off the fence in right to give Tooele a 6-0 lead.

Holt followed with an RBI single of her own when she ripped a single right back up the middle for the seventh run then Cassey Timothy capped off the scoring with a bloop single to the right side of the infield for a 8-0 lead.

Spanish Fork did threaten to score in the sixth after a single by Janessa Nielsen but could not get a runner to cross the plate. Snow pitched a perfect seventh to close out the Dons and send them to the consolation bracket.

Tooele 3 — Lehi 0

Lehi pitcher Ariel Zimmerman held the Tooele offense in check for four innings but the Buffaloes could not be contained for long thanks to a key two-run blast by Sorenson to lead Tooele to a 3-0 victory.

Besides Sorenson’s clutch hit, Holt also came through against Lehi in knocking a pair of singles for the Buffaloes.

Snow pitched another gem in the circle, this time striking out 11 batters while only allowing four hits.

Tooele had their chances to score early, even loading the bases in the first inning. A pair of singles by Holt and Meyers and a walk by Sorenson loaded the bases but the Buffaloes could not force a run across.

Snow opened up the game retiring the first seven hitters and only gave up one softly-hit single in the first five innings.

Consecutive singles by Mendenhall and Holt helped create a scoring opportunity in the fourth but Zimmerman retired three straight Buffaloes to get out of the inning but she wasn’t so lucky in the fifth.

Chance Hegsted and Snow started off the fifth with singles to get the inning going. After a passed ball allowed runners to get in scoring position, a wild pitch from Zimmerman broke the scoreless tie and gave Tooele a 1-0 lead.

With a runner still on, Sorenson followed with a towering home run to left-center to expand the Buffalo lead to 3-0.

The way Snow was pitching, three runs seemed like Mount Everest to climb for Lehi but the Pioneers put together a threat in the seventh.

Zimmerman led off the inning with a single for Lehi and Annie Nielsen followed with a double to get two runners in scoring position for the Pioneers. With two runners on, Snow focused in and struck out the next three batters to close out the victory.

“When you have 21 kids that put that kind of energy in the game then they are going to be hard to beat,” coach Snow said.

Tooele will play in the 4A state title game today at 5 p.m. at the Valley Softball Complex in Taylorsville.

Jake Gordon: jgordon@tooeletranscript.com