5A softball: Deceased friend inspires Bowles in lifting Bountiful past Roy 11-1 in semifinals

TAYLORSVILLE — Bountiful's Alyssa Bowles was relatively subdued following her big performance during her team's 11-1 rout over Roy on Wednesday, and for good reason. The senior slugger greeted reporters happy with what she and her team just accomplished, but became understandably emotional when asked what drove her standout play.

"These ones were all for Jovanni. Those were for him," Bowles said while fighting back emotions.

The "ones" referred to the two home runs Bowles hit to help cut short Wednesday's semifinal game by one inning, with "Jovanni" in reference to Jovanni Lozano-Sayama, a classmate who recently took his own life. The loss of her friend has affected Bowles and her teammates profoundly, with the goal of playing for his memory in the forefront of the Braves' minds, and particularly with Bowles, who considered him a dear friend.

“These ones were all for Jovanni. Those were for him.”

Alyssa Bowles

"The team is playing for him this week," Bowles said. "We have (Miami Dolphin logos) on our helmets — that was his favorite football team — and 'Jo' on our wrists, so those (home runs) were for him. This whole tournament is for him."

Bowles' first blast was a solo shot over the center field fence that pushed the Braves' lead to 8-0 in the third inning. Two innings later she hit an almost identical shot to the same place in the park, lifting her team to a 9-0 lead.

Bowles' home runs topped off Bountiful taking advantage of some otherwise sloppy fielding by the Royals to build an early 5-0 lead after just two innings played. The one earned run came with an RBI single off the bat of Libbie Hawker.

Laura Seitz, Deseret News

Bountiful faces Roy in the 5A semifinals on Wednesday, May 29, 2019.

"They made a few errors, so like I say, 'take them when you can get them,'" said Bountiful coach Aaron Hogge.

Pitching the way for the Braves was Corinne Hall, who pitched a complete game while allowing just a single run.

With the win, Bountiful remains as the final unbeaten team in the double-elimination 5A state tournament, which will conclude on Thursday after multiple weather delays during the past two weeks. It will take on the winner of West vs. Roy, which will be played just before Thursday's championship.

West punched its ticket to the final game of the one-loss bracket by rallying to come back and get by Farmington 9-5.

As for battling through the bevy of weather delays leading up to the final day of competition, Bountiful players admit to it being tough, yet ultimately rewarding.

"I think we got on the bus three times, got to Salt Lake (City), and then just had to turn around," Bowles said. "So it was hard to have motivated practices and productive practices. It was really hard, but we pulled it off."

from Deseret News http://bit.ly/2EI7gf2