Mountain View 5, Taylorsville 4
The last time the Taylorsville Warriors and Mountain View Bruins met in a baseball game, extra innings were required before Bruins third baseman Brett Sundberg's single ended Taylorsville's 1999 5A baseball season.In Friday's State American Legion championship, Sundberg didn't wait as long, hitting a 2-2 pitch in the bottom of the ninth inning that barely cleared the left-field wall, pushing the Bruins to a 5-4 victory and a berth in the regional tournament to be held in Las Vegas.
For Sundberg, co-MVP of the tournament, it was the perfect ending to a perfect game. The third baseman not only helped his team win the championship with his bat, going 3-4 with the home run and a double, but also made some key defensive plays to keep the Warriors off the scoreboard as much as possible. His jumping catch that snagged Rick Wilding's line drive ended the top of the sixth inning, leaving Schafer Magana stranded on second base.
"Defense is what wins games," Sundberg acknowledged after the game. "We played good defense all around. [Shortstop Jeff] Gardner made some sweet plays and [centerfielder Jess] Baldwin ran down really well-hit balls into the gap. We've been real strong defensively, which adds to our hitting and pitching. It just makes everything else stronger."
Hunter definitely benefitted from the spectacular defense -- when he gave Taylorsville a chance to hit the ball. He struck out eight Warriors in his complete game victory, scattering nine hits and allowing only two earned runs.
Hunter seemed to get stronger the longer he was on the mound, giving up only two hits while striking out three Warriors in the last three innings.
Toward the end of the game, Hunter, who was honored with the tournament's individual pitching award, says his strategy was just to keep the Warriors in check.
"I just wanted to hold them because we had the middle of our lineup coming up," Hunter said. "Brett and Aaron [Lancaster] have been hitting real well, and I knew we were going to win."
Hunter's performance overshadowed that of Taylorsville's Mike Lewis, who stepped in during the middle of the bottom of the third to bail starting pitcher Chris Mower out of a jam.
Lewis held the Bruins to four hits over 32/3 innings, struck out six , and gave up only one run -- a run that will probably be replayed for a while in his mind.
Despite the loss, Taylorsville manager Justin Thomas felt his team played as well as it could have.
"This team accomplished more than they probably should have," Thomas said. "I'm real proud of them. They don't have the most talent, but they just battle. This team battles for me, and I'm proud to death of our seniors."
In the end, the Warriors ran out of fight, beat by a team that Thomas acknowledged was better than his; a team that was determined to erase the bad memories of the 5A baseball championship in May when they lost to Bingham.
"We didn't feel too good about last time," Mountain View manager Jay Sundberg said.