Despite giving up an early lead against the Snow Canyon Warriors, the Crimson Cliffs Mustangs came roaring back to secure a 12-8 victory Friday in the first game of the best-of-three 4A championships series.
Like many of the 4A tournament games thus far, the all-Region 9 affair was a back-and-forth battle.
“Well, we knew it was going to be a dogfight, man,” Mustangs head coach Justin Abbott said. “Those guys in that other dugout and that coaching staff do a great job of making sure that those guys are prepared, but, you know, just a ton of fight in our guys.
“We’re gritty, and, you know, not a lot of giving up. Our dugout’s been huge.”
Snow Canyon scored the first run in the bottom of the first, but Crimson Cliffs answered immediately, scoring four runs across the next two innings to take a 4-1 lead.
While it seemed as though the Mustangs had all the momentum in their favor, the Warriors responded with a big third inning.
Sending 11 batters to the plate, Snow Canyon tallied seven runs to take an 8-4 lead. In the process, it sent Crimson Cliffs starting pitcher Madden Smith to the showers.
While Smith allowed seven earned runs, junior Mason Anderson replaced him in relief having never pitched in a state playoff game.
After allowing just one earned run of his own, Anderson began to settle in against the Warriors, then it was up to the Mustangs’ offense to get the team back into the game.
Following a scoreless fourth inning, Crimson Cliffs, with some help from struggling Snow Canyon pitching, mounted a four-run rally to tie the score at 8-8 in the fifth.
After a strikeout started the frame, a McKay Wright double, a walk and a hit by pitch loaded the bases. Two batters later, another free pass and a pinch-hit three-run double by Mason Burbidge evened the score.
On the mound, Anderson began setting down one hitter after another. In the next three innings, the junior struck out five, sending the game to extras.
“I feel pretty good when I come in. I always push myself to do things that I haven’t done before. I’ve never pitched in a state game in my life, so I just had to get it done,” Anderson said.
With Anderson dealing on the mound, the Mustangs went to bat in the top of the eighth looking to secure the win. After the first three at-bats, Crimson Cliffs had runners on the corners with one out and up stepped Jason McArthur, who had struck out looking in his last two plate appearances.
This time, though, the shortstop punched a hit through the right side of the infield, giving the Mustangs the 9-8 lead.
“I got up there and just knew that I had to do my job, and so I kind of used a two-strike approach there,” McArthur said of his go-ahead RBI.
“I knew that PJ (Hancock) was going to, you know, throw something offspeed, and then he actually came at me with another fastball, so I just tried to keep my hands in and drive it through, and it ended up working out.”
Crimson Cliffs added another three runs in the fame to make it a 12-8 advantage, and Anderson shut down the Warriors in the bottom of the eighth to secure the Game 1 win.
“He is a guy that just comes in and is like, ‘I’m going to get the job done. Give me the ball. I want the ball,’ Abbott said of Anderson.
“You love guys like that, and you don’t want to not give those guys a shot. He did a hell of a job. Our guys backed him up, and he just kept getting outs.”
With Friday’s result, the Mustangs are now just one win away from their third state title in four years. But even with a series lead, Abbott wants his team to be prepared.
“I think our goal is to win that (first) game,” Abbott said. “I think we have to have that approach, like tomorrow’s first game is an elimination game for us, too. I think if we take that approach, I think we’re going to think we’re going to battle.
“We’re battle-tested. We’ve been through a lot as a club. We’ve done some things really well and then we haven’t finished some games, and you know, it’s just a testament to these guys and the rest of the coaches on staff to just make sure we get these guys prepared.”
First pitch for Game 2 of the state championship series is slated for 11 a.m. on Saturday at Bruce Hurst Field. If Snow Canyon wins the first game of the day, a winner-take-all Game 3 will be played at 1:30 p.m.