High school baseball: Spanish Fork continues Cinderella run, will meet Brighton in 5A championship

Brighton 5, Orem 0

Brighton defeated Orem for the second time in as many days Wednesday to secure its spot in the 5A state finals for the second year in a row.

The beginning of the game was highlighted by phenomenal pitching from both sides, as neither Zach Engemann nor Miles Layton allowed a run for the first four innings of the game.

Things changed in the top of the fifth inning though when Brighton head coach Mark Kleven challenged his team to “go back to being who (they) are, go back to the ABCs”.

The Bengals strung together six consecutive at-bats reaching first base, including an RBI single from Case Beames, a sacrifice fly from Riley Brown, and an RBI double from JC Garza (he also crushed a solo homer in the top of the sixth to cap off the scoring for Brighton).

“That’s kind of what you want out of a dude that’s managing the whole game,” Kleven said of his senior catcher. “He’s worked his (butt) off to get here. He’s done what he’s been asked to do. I’ll tell you what, I’m glad he’s on our side.”

Kleven made an interesting decision in the bottom of the sixth inning to pull his starting pitcher with five outs left for the win. He himself said that it was an incredibly difficult decision, as Layton had only allowed three hits up to that point.

Regardless, Kleven turned to Cooper Scott, hoping to secure those final few outs.

“Coop’s kind of been our guy in that situation,” Kleven said. “Nobody wants the ball more than him, and right now, I don’t want the ball in anybody else’s hand in that situation.

“He’s confident, he’s comfortable and I’ve never seen anyone compete as much as he does.”

The decision paid off for the Bengals, as Scott struck out four batters and finished off the shutout.

For the second year in a row, Brighton will be playing on the final weekend of the season, but the Bengals’ mentality is a little different this time around after losing to Maple Mountain in 2024.

“They’re playing with a different intent this year,” Kleven said. “They want to be there, they know they should be there and they want to go and finish it.”

Brighton will look to “finish it” and secure its first state title since 1991, this time against Spanish Fork.

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Spanish Fork 6, Maple Mountain 5

Spanish Fork punched its ticket to the championship series in much more dramatic fashion, a thrilling extra-innings game against rival Maple Mountain.

The Dons found themselves down early, but just like they did plenty during the last half of the season, they fought back.

They took the lead in the second inning thanks to singles from Pratt Morley, Sammy Dart, Boston Duvall and Nixon Warren. Duvall’s hit scored two runs, and Warren’s scored another.

“It’s just a testament to the fight of our guys. We’re ‘Til the End’ mentality. That’s kind of been our motto all year,” Spanish Fork head coach Hadley Thorpe said.

On the mound, Matai Johnson entered in relief in the first inning and pitched five innings, striking out seven batters.

“We’ve been able to develop our pitching staff and be a lot deeper. Matai has been a stud for us all year long,” Thorpe said. “He’s been a starter all year long, so we knew that we had him in the arsenal. We knew he was going to give us a chance.”

Jason Pintar, just a freshman, hit what would ultimately be the game winning RBI in the top of the eighth inning on a bloop single that was dropped by the Maple Mountain second baseman.

It was Pintar’s second RBI of the game.

Spanish Fork is officially the lowest-seeded team to reach the finals in any classification. While the Dons may be viewed as underdogs, they’ve never seen themselves that way.

Fighting back tears, Coach Thorpe said, “It’s always the goal at Spanish Fork to get into the state championship. I’m just so proud of these guys. Nobody thought we were going to be here besides the 30 guys in that dugout.”