Monday’s 4A baseball bracket was played at Kearns High School. Desert Hills and Bear River earned wins. This story will be updated.
Bear River 9, Timpanogos 5
Early in the year, Timpanogos got a convincing 12-4 win over Bear River. But the Bears got the last laugh in Monday’s state tournament with a 9-5 win over the Timberwolves.
“They’re a very, very well-coached team,” said Bear River coach Donald Hawes. “Coach (Kim) Nelson is one of the best coaches in the state. We have a lot of respect for what they do. I think we made a few more plays today than they did, and had a couple of big hits.”
Timpanogos jumped ahead to a 2-0 lead in the second inning after a two-RBI single from Andrew Allphin. However, Bear River went on a big run in the third.
It started with some quick base hits and a sacrifice run that got Bear River two runs. A home run from Chipper Hawes brought home another two runs.
One final RBI single from Stephen Starnes brought the fifth run of the inning, and a 5-3 lead.
“We made some adjustments,” Donald Hawes said. “We faced (Timpanogos Pitcher Canyon) Clegg earlier this year, and he did really well against us.
“Our boys just said, ‘Hey, coach, we’d like one more time at him.’ We thought we did a really good job making those adjustments.”
Timpanogos started to mount a run of their own after a home run from Cooper Hawkes brought home two runs.
However, the Bear River defense tightened after that.
Starnes pitched through five innings and piled up 10 strikeouts, but Garrison Davis finished the game on the mound for Bear River, and Timpanogos struggled.
Davis only recently returned to play after recovering from a broken leg. He finished the game without giving up any hits and throwing two strikeouts.
“Really happy to have him back,” said Donald Hawes. “We just got him back here about two weeks ago, and he’s been a big part of our rotation the last two years, especially at the back end of the games.
It’s just really good to have a guy back there that you trust and can say, ‘Hey, I’m going to give you the ball. Go have some fun.’”
Bear River piled in one more run in the seventh to win the game 9-5. The Bears advance to play No. 2 Desert Hills tomorrow.
Desert Hills 8, Crimson Cliffs 7
It took a few innings, but once No. 2 Desert Hills got going it was unstoppable. The Thunder fell behind early but mounted a huge comeback to beat Region 9 foe Crimson Cliffs 8-7 on day one of the 4A tournament.
The Mustangs’ defense was lethal through the first four innings. Pitcher Tyler Ransom was lethal on the mound and delivered eight strikeouts through five innings. When Desert Hills got a bat on the ball, the defense made plays.
Meanwhile, Crimson Cliffs brought home four runs for a 4-0 lead.
That all changed in the fourth inning.
Desert Hills was finally getting on base and took advantage of a Crimson Cliffs error to get two runners home. Then a triple from Isaac Swanson tied the game 4-4.
Crimson Cliffs brought home three more runners in the fifth, but Desert Hills drilled three home runs in the final two innings for the win.
The first was a single home run from Asher Williams. The second was a home run from Swanson, which tied it 7-7. Swanson led the Thunder with four RBIs in the win.
“He’s clutch, and he’s a gamer,” said Desert Hills coach Jagun Leavitt. “We trust him behind the plate as well. We trust Isaac, we love Isaac, and he loves his team.”
Then a final home run from Roah Wall gave it an 8-7 lead.
Defensively, the Thunder executed well to close out the game. Freshman pitcher Cohen Fuller replaced Wall on the mound in the third inning. Fuller delivered three strikeouts in the final two innings to hold Crimson Cliffs scoreless, which allowed Desert Hills to hold onto its slim 8-7 lead.
“We had Roah and Cohen,” Leavitt said. “They’re our big one-two punch. Having Cohen rolling as a freshman, he’s played in a lot of big baseball games, so seeing him perform today, it was something special.”
Snow Canyon 2 Mountain Crest 1
No. 1 Snow Canyon and No. 9 Mountain Crest found themselves in a tightly contested pitchers duel in in their opening game of the 4A state tournament in bracket play.
In the end, it was a deep two-run home run over the center field wall by Snow Canyon’s JP Hancock that proved to be the difference, being the catalyst and carrying his team to a slim 2-1 victory over Mountain Crest to start their postseason run.
“Both pitchers were awesome. I mean, their pitcher made one mistake, and we sent it over the center field wall to give us two runs. Our pitcher was in the zone and throwing strikes, and that was good. The defense was solid behind him. So happy I’m happy with that,” said Snow Canyon head coach Reed Secrist.
Snow Canyon’s starting pitcher Trent Chris willed his team to the win and was dominant on the mound, pitching a complete game while also striking out eight in the process.
Even with the win, Secrist still sees areas that he would like his team to clean up, especially at the plate.
“I just think we didn’t work into any counts. The guys that work deep into counts, got good pitches to hit and really hit them good. It seemed like their pitcher was in the zone all the time, but we were hitting his pitch on the first pitch, and it wasn’t working for us,” Secrist said. “So hopefully, as the tournament goes on, we’ll relax a little bit, get deeper into counts, and get good pitches to hit, and score a lot of runs.”
With it being the first game of the tournament and his team entering play as the top seed, Secrist felt that his team let the nerves get to them a little bit but hopes they’re able to quickly clean that up before the next game.
“I think we were a little nervous, but at the same time, to win a one run ball game to start off the tournament, I think is a good sign. We tightened up the defense and our pitcher was lights out. So, I mean, to start off this tournament with a tight win like that, I think it’s a good sign,” Secrist said.