They probably played the fewest preseason games of any high school softball team in Utah. 

And yet, it was the Hunter Wolverines that reached the 5A state softball quarterfinals for the first time in school history in May. 

The way in which the Wolverines did so, however, might have been just as impressive as the feat itself. They swept their rivals, No. 22 seeded Kearns in the first round at state, winning 11-6 and 17-2 by hitting three home runs apiece and playing stellar defense. 

As the state tournament’s No. 11 seed, and having finished fourth in the Region 4 standings, Hunter (19-11, 7-4 Region 4) was forced to hit the road for a second-round series at Viewmont, the No. 6 seed that had one of Utah’s best pitchers in hard-throwing London Dickerson, who entered having already hurled 128 strikeouts. 

No matter. Hunter clobbered a three-run home run in the top of the first inning May 14 to open Game 1 of the 5A Regional in Bountiful. 

By the time the Wolverines had ended the third inning at Viewmont, they were ahead 8-4 and went on to pull off a 9-5 stunner. Alexa Olsen and Leila Aiono each hit homers, and seniors Destini Perez and Kiana Pauni had an RBI apiece as Hunter rolled. 

In Game 2 of this series May 15, Hunter showed a few early-inning jitters. The Wolverines got the first run, and then carried a 3-1 lead courtesy of a two-run RBI single from senior Loiana Iongi. Viewmont’s Dickerson was definitely showing her dominance early on, fanning five Hunter batters. 

In the top of the fourth, the Wolverines poured it on though, scoring eight runs. After Viewmont got back in the game by scoring five runs in the bottom of the inning, Hunter senior Kenya Lapuaho came on in relief. 

The University Of Pacific-bound Lapuaho mowed down Viewmont batters 1-2-3 in the bottom of the fourth, giving the Wolverines a lifeline and an 8-6 lead. 

In the bottom of the fifth, Hunter would put away the Vikings with a five-run inning and then Lapuaho forced Viewmont hitters into three straight groundouts to pull off a 16-6 win and a 2-0 series upset on the road to move on to state tournament bracket play, aka the quarterfinals. 

It was the first time in school history that the Wolverines had reached this stage. 

Only a short 5-minute trip to Taylorsville’s Valley Complex awaited Hunter, who started their bracket play round against No. 3 Spanish Fork May 19. The Wolverines bats could never get going against the Dons though, and so Hunter lost its first game at state 10-4. 

That put the Wolverines in a win-or-go-home situation against No. 8 seed Maple Mountain later in the afternoon of May 19. Hunter again struggled to get going in the first two innings and trailed 3-1. In the top of the third though, the Wolverines got a two-run blast to tie it at 3-3. 

In the bottom of the fourth, Maple Mountain manufactured five RBI the hard way, getting on base via bloop singles and staying there thanks to speed to burn. The visitors from south Utah County stole 12 bases and had 15 hits in this game, handing Hunter a season-ending 9-5 loss. 

In all, Hunter clubbed 15 home runs at this state tournament, committing just three fielding errors en route to a 4-2 record this postseason. 

Hunter was the only school on the westside to advance all the way to the state quarters, making the history-making season even more sweet, and one that the players, coaches and staff will always remember.