KEARNS — In the waning innings of Smithfield's 10-8 win over St. George on Wednesday at the American Legion Tournament, Smithfield coach Vic Bingham thought about taking out ace pitcher Ryan Doyle several times. In the end, Bingham decided to stick with the pitcher he's coached over the past four years.
Doyle responded with a gritty performance, leading Smithfield, a team composed primarily of Sky View players, past St. George in extra innings in the final winners-bracket game.
"I decided that he's been our guy the whole season," Bingham said. "We were going to give him the opportunity to win or lose."
Doyle's final stats weren't the stuff of domination, but the 2004 graduate managed to overcome some sloppy defensive play while getting out of several jams. St. George, the home team in the game, entered the bottom-half of the seventh inning tied at 8-8. Doyle kept St. George off the board that frame. After the Aztecs scored two runs in the top-half of the eighth, Doyle held St. George scoreless to earn the win.
"We didn't have the best defensive game behind (Doyle), but we did enough to win," Smithfield shortstop Bo Benson said.
After trailing the game throughout the night, St. George knotted the score at 8-8 when it scored three runs.
Instead of wilting, however, Smithfield fought off St. George before winning in the eighth inning.
"We've been a very resilient team all year," Bingham said.
That resiliency was evidenced by the offensive performance of Benson. After a bad start to the tournament, Benson has turned things around. Against St. George, the Smithfield shortstop went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs scored.
"He really struggled in the first two games of this tournament," Bingham said.
After starting the American Legion season 1-3, Smithfield now finds itself just a win away from the championship. The Aztecs have a bye today before facing the winner from the loser's bracket Saturday.
In other American Legion games Wednesday:
LAYTON 6, HIGHLAND 2: Trailing 2-0 after the first inning, Layton crawled its way back into the game, scoring six runs over the final six innings to defeat the Rams 6-2. Brandon Lomax doubled and earned the win on the mound.
TAYLORSVILLE 18, KEARNS 7: Taylorsville exploded for 11 runs in the sixth inning to beat the Cougars and advance in the loser's bracket. The Warriors finished the game with 17 hits.
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