Lake City finishes 5-0 at Utah tourney

ST. GEORGE, Utah — Lake City hit four more home runs and won both games — against a pair of Utah teams — to finish 5-0 at the season-opening March Warm Up Elite Tournament on Saturday.

Ashley Kaufman struck out 16 in eight innings as the Timberwolves beat Cedar City 11-1 in six innings, then beat Tooele 4-1.

Olivia Zufelt, the Grand Canyon University signee who hit three home runs on Friday, hit another dinger on Saturday. Emma Gray, Jalyssa Beamer and Ashlynn Allen also homered on Saturday.

“We ended a great weekend with two wins and finished a great opening tournament undefeated,” Lake City coach Jesse Lenz said. “I was really proud of the way the girls responded to adversity, and we were really put in situations that will help us down the road. AK (Kaufman) and Amanda (Curry) threw the ball well against great teams. It really felt like a postseason tournament game where we had to work hard to manufacture runs. It was a great weekend and we look to build on this in the weeks to come.”

Against Cedar City, Zufelt hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning to end the game on the 10-run rule. Abby Gray went 2 for 3 with a double and four RBIs for Lake City. Kaufman struck out seven in five innings, and also went 3 for 3 with a double and three runs scored.

Against Tooele, Allen hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning to put Lake City ahead 2-0. Beamer, the next batter, followed with a homer. Kaufman struck out nine and walked one in a complete-game three-hitter.

Lake City’s scheduled home opener on Wednesday vs. Lewis and Clark of Spokane has already been postponed due to snow on the field. The Timberwolves are scheduled to return to action next Saturday with games against Kamiakin and Chiawana in the Tri-Cities.

LAKE CITY 11, CEDAR CITY 1

Cedar City 000 001 — 1 2 1

Lake City 022 142 — 11 11 3

Game called in 6th inning due to 10-run rule.

Sydney Meek, Payton Naegele (5) and Kylie Oldroyd; Ashley Kaufman, Amanda Curry (6) and Jalyssa Beamer.

HITS: CC — Weaver, Simcox. LC — Chapman 2, Zufelt 2, E. Gray, Allen, Kaufman 3, A. Gray 4. 2B — Simcox, A. Gray, Zufelt, Kaufman. HR — Zufelt, E. Gray.

LAKE CITY 4, TOOELE 1

Tooele 000 000 1 — 1 3 0

Lake City 000 301 x — 4 7 1

Tooele battery unavailable; Ashley Kaufman and Jalyssa Beamer.

HITS: Too — N/A. LC — Taylor, Zufelt 2, Allen, Beamer, Kaufman 2. 2B — Zufelt. HR — Beamer, Allen.