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Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News
Here’s a recap of Thursday’s 2A state tournament winners’ bracket from games at BYU.
No. 4 San Juan outlasted top-seeded Beaver in an offensive heavy game, pulling away in the latter stages to grab a 13-8 victory to move on to the semifinals of the 2A state tournament.
The offensive production was spread out throughout the San Juan lineup, with the team being led by a strong overall performance by Kreed Herring, who had three RBIs at the plate to go along with seven strikeouts on the mound.
“This team is just a resilient bunch,” said San Juan head coach Jens Nielson. “We just felt good, you know, and these guys, we have a really strong senior group and this team just loves each other.
“That exemplifies and exudes to the rest of the group, and the preparation, they just prepared on their own. They’re taking reps on their own in batting cages. They’re taking extra reps. Their mind is just, they’re having fun. This is, like, this is a group that we can’t get too serious with because they just play better loose.”
Both teams came out swinging to start the game. San Juan scored two runs in the top of the first inning and Beaver immediately answered in the bottom half of the inning with four runs of its own.
Beaver had the lead at 7-5 after three innings, but San Juan scored eight runs in the following three innings, while limiting Beaver to just a single run the rest of the way.
A 2-run triple by Grady Lacy in the fifth inning followed by a bases clearing double by Jagger Nieves later in the frame helped break the game open, creating some much-needed breathing room.
Nielson could not have been more pleased with what he saw out of his team as the game progressed.
“We’re exceptionally pleased with the way the latter innings turned out,” he said. “We threw two freshmen. Our pitchers did a good job during the game and we kind of know the Beavers have big swingers.
Nielson believes that if his team is going to last two more games to claim the 2A state title, it will need to continue doing what it’s done all year.
“Just never give up, you know, just go into the end,” he said. “Keep grinding it out, put the ball in play, trust our defense. …If we make the routine plays and limit it to about two to three errors a game, we put the ball in play and we throw a strike in the first two pitches, then we’re good to go.”
Kanab 2 Gunnison Valley 0
Kanab scored just two runs on five hits in its 2A playoff game against Gunnison Valley Thursday, but that was all the Cowboys needed.
Walker Baird threw a 1-hitter on the mound and knocked in a run at the plate with an RBI single to help will his team to a 2-0 victory.
While Kanab head coach Craig Brinkerhoff was happy overall with the win, he knows his team needs to get back to being who it is, which is producing at the plate as well as on the mound and out in the field.
“Walker did a great job on the mound for us today,” Brinkerhoff said. “He threw a lot of strikes, competed in his own course. That’s what we expected out of him today, and he’s done that all year, so nothing’s changed there.
“Hats off to him for throwing that game for us. On the hitting side, we got to clean some things up. We got to execute some bunts to and start hitting the ball more.”
Kanab scored its first run of the game in the third inning on a double down the line to make it a 1-0 ballgame. That remained the score until the bottom of the fifth inning, when Baird single to right field to double the lead.
“With Walker, I mean, he’s got nothing but confidence and he is a very resilient kid. Very resilient,” Brinkerhoff said. “He never gets rattled. He’s nothing but confidence, and he just wants to win. That’s what I love about him.”
Brinkerhoff believes that after getting the first playoff game out of the way under the big lights, his team will get back to its dominant offensive ways at the plate.
“I know they had a little bit of jitters being on the bigger field and they’re excited to be here, but I think we’re gonna get settled down and just to slow things down again,” said Brinkerhoff.
“I think going into tomorrow, I expect our guys to be a little more focused. Now they know what they can expect again, get back on it. I think tomorrow we’ll see a lot more of who we are again.”
In the 1-loss elimination bracket, No. 5 South Sevier shut out No. 9 North Sevier 5-0 and will face Gunnision Valley. In the other game in the elimination bracket, American Leadership Academy got past Parowan in a low scoring affair 1-0. As its reward, it will face Beaver next.
