Zufelt's big day paces Lake City in opener

ST. GEORGE, Utah — Olivia Zufelt hit three home runs and drove in 10 runs on the day as the Lake City Timberwolves opened their season Friday by winning all three games on the first day of the 48-team March Warm Up Elite Tournament.

Lake City defeated three Utah schools — Fremont 4-3, Box Elder 9-2 and Bingham 10-4.

“Had a great start to the season today,” Lake City coach Jesse Lenz said. “It was nice to get out on the field and knock off the rust. The seniors led the way with their leadership. We had really great at-bats today and showed a lot of promise for the season.”

In the first game, Lake City trailed Fremont 3-0 before Abby Jankay hit a two-run home run in the top of the fourth to pull the Timberwolves within one. In the fifth, Zufelt’s two-run homer gave Lake City the lead.

Against Box Elder, Zufelt hit two more home runs, two-run shots in the first and fourth innings, respectively. Zufelt finished 3 for 3 with three runs and four RBIs. Ashlynn Allen hit a two-run homer in the fourth, and went 2 for 2 with three runs and two RBIs. Ashley Kaufman struck out five in four innings.

Bailee Taylor and Reilley Chapman each went 2 for 3 with a run scored for Lake City.

Against Bingham, Zufelt went 2 for 2 with two runs and four RBIs, including a two-run double in the second inning. Lacey Lemburg hit a two-run single in the first, and Taylor, Chapman, Allen and Emma Gray each had two hits for the T-Wolves.

Friday’s games, pushed back due to inclement weather, were played to a 90-minute time limit. The event consists of eight pools of six teams each, with each team playing the other five teams in its pool.

Today, Lake City is scheduled to play Cedar at 8 a.m. PST and Tooele at 10:15 to conclude tourney play.

LAKE CITY 4, FREMONT 3

Lake City 000 22 — 4 4 1

Fremont 120 00 — 3 8 0

Ashley Kaufman, Amanda Curry (5) and Jalyssa Beamer; Fremont battery unavailable.

HITS: LC — Taylor, Zufelt, Jankay, Lemburg. Fre — N/A. HR — Jankay, Zufelt.

LAKE CITY 9, BOX ELDER 2

Lake City 302 4 — 9 11 1

Box Elder 000 2 — 2 4 0

Ashley Kaufman and Olivia Zufelt; Miya Quntero and N/A.

HITS: LC — Taylor 2, Chapman 2, Allen 2, Gray, Zufelt 3, Kaufman. BE — Blacker, Lish, Gould, Bushnell. 2B — Gould. HR — Allen, Zufelt 2.

LAKE CITY 10, BINGHAM 4

Lake City 532 0 — 10 13 1

Bingham 010 3 — 4 7 0

Amanda Curry and Jalyssa Beamer; Paige Braunbeck, Averi Hanny (1), Emily Dority (4) and N/A.

HITS: LC — Taylor 2, Chapman 2, Allen 2, Gray 2, Zufelt 2, Beamer, Jankay, Lemburg. Bing — Barawis, Hanny, Dority, Badell, Latu, Braunbeck, Chappel. 2B — Jankay, Chapman, Zufelt, Gray, Taylor, Latu.