SPANISH FORK — Sky View used a dominating pitching performance by Mitch Berryhill and a plethora of Maple Mountain errors to get by the Golden Eagles 7-1.
Maple Mountain compiled nine total errors in a game that was otherwise dead even in the hit department with both teams accounting for six apiece. Few balls were hit out of the infield, but time and again, Sky View simply took advantage of Maple Mountain's bevy of errors.
"Sometimes that's just how baseball is," said Sky View coach Brady Pond. "Sometimes that's just what baseball comes down to — executing the small things and we did that and got a good win against a very good opponent."
Jason Oliverson started off the scoring for the Bobcats with an RBI double before the errors started to mount for the Golden Eagles. An errant throw here and a passed ball there and soon enough Sky View found itself with a big lead despite holding even in hits.
"We practice the small things and that was the difference today," said Pond. "You're not always going to hit big, but our guys have really worked hard on doing the small things and it sure paid off for us today."
Putting Berryhill on the mound also paid off big-time with the junior pitcher going the distance while giving up just a single run. His innings pitched weren't exactly smooth with runners reaching base in most innings while using around 125 pitches to get the job done, however.
"I pitched Mitch a lot longer than I usually do with anyone," said Pond. "He's a competitor though and I think I would have had to rip the ball from his hand to get him out of there. He was able to get us out of a lot of tough situations today."
Overall, Pond is happy where his team is at heading into the stretch run of the 4A playoffs.
"There are a lot of good teams out there in 4A, but if we just keep remembering to execute the small stuff and get some timely hits, I like our chances, " he said. "We got a bit lucky today with all the errors, but what was important was that we took advantage of them."
EMAIL: bgurney@desnews.com