LAYTON — With nine Class 3A first-team all staters in the starting line-up the St. George American Legion team is definitely one of the favorites to win the state tournament, and in its opening round game Saturday it played like one.
Pine View lefthander Phil Finley, who was the Class 3A MVP, fired a complete-game four-hitter and struck out seven in leading St.
George to the 4-1 victory over Brigham City.
"He got a head of the hitters and kept them off balance," St. George manager Kyle West said.
Finley outdueled Mountain Crest's Ryan Zimmerman, who also struck out seven.
"We knew a little bit about him (Zimmerman), but we had never seen him" West said. "You have to give credit to Phil.
St. George (39-6) draws players from Snow Canyon, Dixie, Pine View, the Class 3A state champion, and Hurricane.
"If we play our game we can play with anybody. I don't worry about who we play but how we play," West said.
Finley agreed.
"We have a good team and we have a chance (too win it)," he said. "We have to play hard and play our game."
With the win, St. George plays Taylorsville Monday at 6 p.m. at Weber High. Brigham City will play Mountain Crest at 9 a.m. Monday at Weber High.
Finley retired the side in order in the first three innings. He gave a hit to Zimmerman in the second inning, but he was thrown out trying to steal second to keep the consecutive batter streak in tact.
Brigham City scored it's only run in the fourth inning on an RBI single by Tom Holland.
He retired the side in order in the next two innings. He allowed two hits in the seventh, but didn't allow a run.
St. George gave Finley all the runs he would need in the second inning on a two-run single by Eric Barnum.
St. George added a run in the third when Jimmy Scholzen, who tripled, scored on a passed ball. Garrett Messerly drove in St.
George's final run with a single in the fourth.
Zimmerman had two of Brigham City's four hits.
TAYLORSVILLE LEGION 5, MOUNTAIN CREST LEGION 3:Danny Cornia belted a two-run homer in Taylorsville's four-run first inning and Brian Hedman struck out seven in earning the win. Luke Lofthouse had a hit and two RBIs for Mountain Crest.
BEAR RIVER LEGION 11, HELPER LEGION 1:Tyrell Marble paced Bear River with a three-run double in the first inning. In six innings of relief, Matt Morris struck out five. Chandler Pearson had a hit and and RBI for Helper.
CYPRUS LEGION 5, SMITHFIELD LEGION 2: Joe Wice fired a complete-game six-hitter and fanned 11 in leading Cyprus to the win.
Jon Tate, Joe Ellis and Colt Adams all homered.
KEARNS 2 LEGION 5, VIEWMONT LEGION 3:Jason Gordon doubled and homered as Kearns held off Viewmont. Kearns scored all its runs in the first four innings.
KEARNS 1 LEGION 5, CEDAR LEGION 1: Zac Privett struck out seven in earning the complete-game four-hit victory. Jeffrey Cole and Todd Privett homered for Kearns.
OREM LEGION 3, LAYTON LEGION 2:Jordan Olsen struck out 14 and Brooks Christiansen belted a lead-off homer to lift the Tigers to the win. Layton had the tying run on third in the bottom of the seventh but couldn't push across the run.
JORDAN LEGION 5, WEBER LEGION 4: Zac Terry had three hits — two singles and a double — with two RBIs to lead Jordan to the one-run victory.
Schedule
American Legion
State Tournament
Monday's games
Championship bracket
at Layton High
Jordan vs.. Cyprus, 3 p.m.
Kearns 1 vs. Kearns 2, 6 p.m.
at Weber High
Orem vs. Bear River, 3 p.m.
Taylorsville vs. St. George, 3 p.m.
One-loss bracket
at Layton
Weber vs. Smithfield, noon
Viewmont vs. Cedar, 9 a.m.
at Weber
Layton vs. Helper, noon
Mountain Crest vs. Brigham City, 9 a.m.