West High baseball coach Craig Graves admits his team didn't play a good baseball game. The Panthers didn't hit all that well early, didn't play great defense or run the bases well, but Graves is happy with the 10-7, eight-inning victory over Olympus in week one of Region 6/7 play Tuesday.
"When you play that poorly and win, you've got to feel good about it sometimes," said Graves after seeing his team score nine runs in the final three innings to earn the victory.The Panthers gave up four hits, which included an RBI single by Titans' Lars Birkeland and a two-run double by Jason Hall, and committed two errors in the first inning in spotting the Titans the 4-0 lead.
Titan pitcher Roy Granger held the Panthers in check in his three innings of work allowing only one run, while West starter Jason Mackintosh struggled for his remaining four innings before giving way to Josh Johnston, who earned the victory.
Thanks to a pair of costly Titan errors and a two-run double by Paul Kruger, the Panthers tied the score in the top of the sixth at 4-4 only to see the Titans regain the lead at 6-4 in the bottom half of the inning.
Joe Briseno, who was 3 for 5 with three singles on the day, led off the top of the seventh with a single, then a walk and another Titan error aided the Panthers in tying the score at 6-6 to force extra-innings.
Then the Panthers bats came alive in the top of the eighth as they put the game out of reach.
With two outs, Jake Wolfgram doubled, Briseno followed with an RBI single and Brian Ely tripled home another run. Those three hits coupled with another Titan error, and an RBI single by Nate Buck gave the Panthers their first lead off the game at 10-6.
Olympus scored a token run in the eighth, but Johnston struck out two and forced a Titan groundout to preserve the victory.
The Titans, who played flawless defense in the first five innings, had four miscues in the final three innings.
"We try to teach our kids they have to play conspicuously consistent to play the game of baseball, and today we didn't do that," said Olympus coach David Wiseman.
In other Region 6/7 action:
Tooele 7, Granite 0: Tooele's Trent Pratt struck out 10 in going the distance and teammate Shanz Leonelli went 3-for-4 with a double and a triple to lead the Buffaloes.
Cyprus 8, Judge 4: Pirate pitcher John Elswood struck out nine and walked just two in recording the complete-game victory. Josh Williams led the Pirates offensively with two doubles in his 3-for-3 day.
East 6, Woods Cross 0: East moved to 1-0 in Region 6/7 with a shutout of Woods Cross. Craig Sorensen tossed six innings of shutout ball - allowing just four hits.
Nonregion
Taylorsville 6, Mountain View 0: Brandon Lyon fired a two-hitter and struck out nine as the Warriors blanked Mountain View. Zach Bernard had two hits for the Warriors.
In other action: 3A Emery bounced 2A Manti 8-4 and Bonneville defeated Davis 5-2.
Softball
Region 6/7
Cyprus 11, Granite 0: Erin Dabell had a double and four RBIs to lift Cyprus to the five-inning victory. Brittany McIntyre added two RBIs for Cyprus.
Tooele 5, Murray 0: Tooele, fresh off winning the 4A division of the St. George Spring Warm-up, Brandy Butler struck out seven and walked just one to lead Tooele over Murray.
Soccer
Region 3
Bingham 2, Taylorsville 1: Jimmy Dunn scored twice to lead the Miners past Taylorsville.
Teran Mitchell scored T-Ville's lone goal.
Hunter 3, West Jordan 2 : Hunter bettered West Jordan 4-2 in the shootout to earn the soccer victory. Brian Rasmussen and Lewis Herrara had goals for Hunter, while Jared Henderson has both goals for the Jaguars.
Kearns 6, Copper Hills 0: Jeff Adams scored four goals to lead the Cougars over Copper Hills. Brian Deleeuw recorded the shutout for Kearns.
Nonregion
Provo 2, Woods Cross 1: Steven Thompson and John Abeglain scored goals to lead the Bulldogs to the one-goal victory.