OGDEN — East High's Ben Dailey is proof that staying ready to play when called upon will eventually pay off.
Dailey didn't enter Saturday's 4A All-Star Game until the eighth inning with his team trailing by seven runs and he made the most of his time.
The senior righthander held the South squad scoreless in the final two innings, collected two RBI doubles and scored the winning run with two outs in the ninth as the North came from behind for the 9-8 victory.
"That was one of the funnest games I've played in high school," Dailey said. "I was an awesome way to end." Awesome would be one way to describe it.
The North squad rallied for four runs in the eighth and four more in the ninth and Dailey eventually scored on a wild pitch delivered by Springville's Aaron Jensen.
"I was looking for a passed ball," said Dailey, who finished second to Springville's Dan Bulow in game MVP honors. "I saw him warming up and you could tell the catcher wasn't used to catching that pitcher."
In the final two innings, the North Club had six of its 13 hits and took advantage of five South errors.
In the ninth inning alone, the South team committed two errors, which kept the North rally alive.
Jensen entered with two outs in the ninth with runners on first and second. He got Cyprus' Jon Tate into an infield ground ball, but the defense couldn't make the play. Dailey, who doubled home a run earlier in the inning, moved to third on the play. He later scored on the wild pitch.
"For such a random group of guys to pull together as a like that was cool," Dailey said. "The chemistry worked well. We hit the ball when we needed to."
The game started as a pitching duel with the North's Ryan Zimmerman fanning six in three innings and Mountain View's Willy Newton holding the North to just two hits in four innings.
The South broke the game open in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings with two, three and three runs, respectively.
Mountain View's Joey Bye delivered a two-out two-run single in the fifth and Bulow, who won the home run derby earlier in the day, belted a two-run shot in the sixth and Jensen followed with a three-run homer in the seventh. Spanish Fork's John Welsh had an RBI triple one batter before Jensen's homer to right.
The North squad slowly chipped away at the South lead. Logan's Greg Palmer, who had two hits in the game, Mountain Crest's Nick Eliason and Sky View's Chandler Robinson also had hits in the eighth.
Bonneville's Jake Cooper and Dailey had hits in the ninth.
Home-run derby
Dan Bulow Springville 6
Alex Rosenhan Alta 3
Matt Stahl Judge 2
Kyle Melling Canyon View 1
Kyle Pratt Tooele 1
Each participant had 10 swings against a pitching machine