Park City High School softball coach Lindsay Cunningham is urging her team to focus on the “livies” – little victories. The Miners lost 15-1 to Skyline on Thursday, but Cunningham is seeing improvements from her team with each passing game.

“Today, we had a ton of them,” Cunningham said. “Even though the score might not show it, we really, really did. The first three innings, we got out of some tough situations, and I was really proud of the team.”

Park City hung around through the first three innings, as it only trailed 4-0. The bottom fell out after that, though, as Skyline scored eight in the top of the fourth and added three more in the next frame to earn a run-rule win after five innings. Still, even something as small as making the game last five innings is a win for the Miners. After a three-inning game against Viewmont on March 24, the Miners have made it to at least the fifth inning in their last three games.

“The longer we play, the more opportunities that everyone has,” Cunningham said. “We just need those opportunities.”

Another small victory for Park City: playing a home game. The Miners started their season on March 15, yet it wasn’t until Thursday that they finally played at home. Park City also had its first practice outside this week.

“We’re just being able to set up an actual field – just happened for us two days ago,” Cunningham said. “We’ve been trying to learn all these different things in Basin Rec, and as lucky as we are to have Basin Rec, can’t quite do everything that you can do on a field. And so, I think if we take a couple weeks where we get to practice outside, it’s going to make a huge difference because it’s real, live action as we’re going to see in a game. Which we haven’t been able to do this whole season.”

Cunningham is also seeing improvements from all of her players over the course of the season. She cited outfielder Brielle Simpson and catcher Madi Brent as examples.

“(Brent) had an awesome day, great day at the plate, great day behind the plate,” Cunningham said. “(Simpson’s) just someone that does her job. She always backs up when she’s supposed to, she has strong at-bats, she catches everything that goes into the outfield, so she’s just another strong person.”

Brent had a double for Park City on a day where the Miners struggled to string hits together. Defensively, Cunningham liked how Brent fielded a bunt in front of home plate, barehanded the ball and got the out at first base.

“The last time we played them, I hit them right down third, and they got it to first every time, so it’s really sweet to get on base,” Brent said. “We’ve been practicing (defense) a lot – bunts and pop flies, taking my helmet off and stuff. It’s so good to see it executed well.”

Thursday’s game may not have produced the scoreline that Cunningham was hoping for, but she’s focused on where the Miners have made great strides since the start of the season.

“Top to bottom, every single person has come so far,” Cunningham said. “It’s just the little things – we’re hitting our cutoffs now. Just those little, technical part of the game that we weren’t doing at first, and now we are. It’s been fun to watch, and sometimes there are still little mistakes. But that’s part of the game. If it was easy, everyone would do it.”