Dart delivered an offensive exposition in the Dons’ 10-9 victory over Salem Hills.
With offensive fireworks exploding all around him, Spanish Fork pitcher Zac Dart settled in and channeled the childhood ease of playing catch with his younger brother in the backyard in North Carolina.
Dart delivered a closing calm to complement a three RBI offensive effort to help Spanish Fork best Salem Hills for the second time in less than 24 hours, securing a 10-9 victory in extra innings to advance to the 5A title game.
“That’s what I love about these guys. We’ll fight to the death, not literally, but figuratively,” Dart said. “We’ll fight for forever.”
Spanish Fork started with a flurry of offense in the first two innings on the way to five runs but the middle of the game slowed down the Dons’ potent bats.
“Guys turned it on and had a bunch of quality at bats and got some big knocks with two outs,” Spanish Fork coach Casey Nelson said. “Two out RBIs are just deflating. I think we had three or four of those throughout this game.”
Salem Hills knocked in four runs in the bottom of the fourth to tie the game at 5-5, until the top of the sixth when Spanish Fork scored four themselves highlighted with a two-run home run shot over the left field fence from junior Easton Romero to take a 9-5 lead into the bottom of the sixth.
Salem Hills added two runs on four hits before Dart had a chance to close out the game.
“What a seesaw back and forth of two teams really competing their butts off,” Nelson said.
The Skyhawks surged back, however, with a two-run homer from senior Gavin Averett with two outs in the bottom of the seventh to make it 9-9.
Salem Hills walked a Spanish Fork run home in the first extra inning and Dart took over from there, throwing two strikeouts to ice the victory.
“It’s almost surreal that we won that game,” Dart said. “It felt like a marathon, but we got it.”
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Brennan Smith
After an emotional close loss Wednesday night, Maple Mountain rebounded with a mercy rule 12-2 win after six innings in a rubber match with Orem to send the series to a third and final game Thursday afternoon.
“We’ve been swinging it pretty well all week long and we lost a bitter one here last night to them on a lot of iffys,” Maple Mountain coach Gary Miner said. “They’ve been very efficient, they’ve been hitting the ball very well.”
Orem took an early 2-0 lead in the first inning on a Hayden Hixson RBI double but was shut out from there through a strong combination of pitching from Mason Green and Tyler Nelson. Green recorded seven strikeouts before Nelson came in to finish the job in the top of the fifth inning.
Miner praised Nelson for his instincts and competitiveness for pitching twice in one day to lift Maple Mountain to two dominant wins.
“All of our pitchers have been very, very good all week and we’re ready for tomorrow,” Miner said. “We’ve got pitchers ready to go for tomorrow and see if we can get to Spanish on Friday.”
The Golden Eagles were patient at the plate in the bottom of the fourth on the way to the majority of the team’s runs – earning three straight scores on walks followed up with a score on a wild pitch and a two-run single from Josh Crandall to open a commanding 9-2 lead before capping off the proceedings in the bottom of the sixth.
Either Maple Mountain or Orem will finish the trilogy Thursday for a right to face Spanish Fork for the 5A title.
“It was one that we wanted to get back and it’s one we want to get back tomorrow as well,” Nelson said.
from Deseret News https://ift.tt/2SuoVAS
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