OGDEN — In baseball, if a team has the bases loaded with no outs in an inning, the odds are overwhelming in their favor that they will score at least one run. After blowing an early 6-0 lead, the 5A South All Stars found themselves in just that scenario Saturday night at Lindquist Field. In the bottom of the seventh inning, the South team needed just one run to beat the 5A North Team and break a 7-7 tie.
SRC="/img/xclear.gif" WIDTH="1" HEIGHT="1" VSPACE="4"> HREF="http://www.desnews.com/dn/photogallery/1,3210,310003490,00.html">
SRC="/i/gallery_link.gif" WIDTH="116" HEIGHT="43" BORDER="0"
ALT="Photo gallery">
HEIGHT="1" VSPACE="4">
WIDTH="7" HEIGHT="1">
Too bad for the North team they had to face Viewmont's Kyle Graham. Facing enormous pressure, Graham didn't allow any runs while getting his team out the inning. The 5A North All Stars then won in the game in the tenth inning 8-7.
All told, Graham pitched three innings, allowing just one run to earn the win.
"It was a big relief," Graham said of getting out of that ninth inning. "I just tried to throw strikes and keep the ball down."
Graham's performance earned him MVP honors for the contest.
"(Graham) came in and hit his spots," 5A North All Stars coach Justin Bauerle said.
As far as the quality of the game went, Bauerle wasn't hesitant to say it was one of the best games he's coached.
"That's just something that I've never been a part of as a coach," Bauerle said of the extra-innings contest. "That's what its all about."
After Northridge's Cole Robinson advanced Weber's Trent Woolsey to third on a double, Woolsey scored the winning run in the tenth inning for the 5A North team after an error by the 5A South's Third baseman. Graham closed the door on the South team in the bottom half of that inning.
The 5A South team looked to have the game in control after the first four innings. After Kearn's Mike Brown singled in Brighton's Brandon Walters, the 5A South All Stars took a 4-0 lead.
After managing just three hits and no runs in the first four innings, the 5A North All Stars exploded in the fifth inning for six runs. Skyline's John Langford and Layton's Josh McFarland both doubled in the inning and both drove in two runs.
"If we didn't get those hits, we weren't going to have a chance," Bauerle said.
Robinson, who helped to score the winning run, finished the game 4-6 from the plate. He also drove in one run.
"The players on the field, they pulled me through," Graham said of the contributions around him.