Coach Roger Howell would have liked to take credit for the 4A South All-Star team's 17-7 rout over the 4A North All-Stars Thursday night, but he couldn't.

After all, Howell didn't even have a specific game plan. In fact, the Ben Lomond mentor only found out he would be participating minutes before game time. He was called upon to pinch coach, so to speak, when the South's official skipper couldn't make it."All I had to do was stand there," Howell said. "Those kids can flat out play. They just hit the heck out of the ball."

The South, which was made up of senior stars from Regions 3 and 4, controlled the contest right from the opening pitch in the bottom of the first inning. Bingham's Matt Maynard hit North starter Justin Davis' first offering over the leftfield fence, giving the South a 1-0 lead. Later in the inning Amer

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ican Fork's Tyler Eastman hit an RBI bloop single and Mountain View's Chad Harris knocked in two more runs with a double to give the South a 4-0 lead after one.

The North, the stars from Regions 1 and 2, parlayed a pair of base hits, a sacrifice fly and a passed ball into two runs in the top of the second to close the gap, 4-2.

The South, however, put the game out of reach, for all intents, in the bottom of the third by scoring eight runs. Harris, who was the runner-up to Maynard in the Most Valuable Player voting, clubbed a three-run homer to left and Taylorsville's Joseph Johanson added a two-run double in the third inning onslaught.

The South added two more runs in both the fifth and sixth innings to take a commanding 17-4 advantage. Davis' Ryan Sprague was effective pitching for the North in the final two innings and Clearfield's Travis Poll hit a solo homer late in the game for the losing team, but it was not nearly enough to make the contest competitive.

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For the game, the South All-Stars pounded 17 hits and were aided by seven North errors. Kearn's Travis Lyman started and pitched four two-hit innings in helping the South to its quick start.

"We had too many errors and didn't make the routine plays that you have to to win," North coach Val Cullimore said. "You've got to hand it to them, though. They've just got some guys who can hit the ball."

In addition to his leadoff homer, Maynard had a single and walked three times. He went two-for-two with an RBI and scored three runs to earn himself the MVP trophy.

The All-Star game, which has been played each year since 1945, was sponsored by the Ogden City Recreation Department.

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