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OREM — If the past two days are any indication, Snow Canyon seems to have a knack for evading defeat — no matter the circumstances.
On back-to-back nights, the first-seeded Warriors staged a dramatic comeback over fourth-seeded Mountain Crest in the 4A state tournament at Brent Brown Ballpark to stay undefeated in double elimination play.
The latter game, a narrow 9-8 win over the Mustangs on Wednesday night to advance to the weekend championship game, was Snow Canyon's most convincing display of evasion.
Snow Canyon trailed 8-2 in the fifth inning, but the Region 10 champion from St. George pulled together nine hits and seven runs in its final two offensive stands, and benefited from a costly Mountain Crest error, to avoid what appeared to be a sure balk from its closer with the bases loaded in the top of the seventh inning.
And prior to the scattered rain clouds that reached the Utah Valley University ballpark, the Warriors players gleefully mobbed each other in the middle of the infield to celebrate their advancement to the championship series.
"It feels great to win that game," Snow Canyon head coach Reed Secrist said. "We get to play on Friday and Saturday, so that's exciting for all these guys."
The Warriors' magical week was ignited by senior Ryder Harrison's go-ahead home run to lift the team past Bear River 3-2 on Monday, and carried into Tuesday when Snow Canyon scored four runs in the sixth innings to beat the Mustangs 6-5. By the time Wednesday came around, eking out a come-from-behind victory was the expectation.
"I think they thought even though it's 8-2, I think they thought, 'Well, eventually these balls we're hitting are gonna start falling in and finding holes, and we're gonna start scoring runs,'" Secrist said. "And it did. It's hard for them to come so late, though. I'm too old for this."
Mountain Crest, playing its fourth game in three days, and pressed against the UHSAA's strict pitch count restrictions, went with sophomore Brok Buttars on the mound. He was serviceable early on and forced the Warriors into popups and grounders, while the Mustangs offense hit all over Snow Canyon junior pitcher Kyson Goates.
When Rilee Madock drove a ball off the left field wall to drive in two runs in the fourth, Mountain Crest flexed a six-run lead and looked bent on forcing a second game against Snow Canyon on Friday afternoon.
Instead, the Warriors' bats got hot.
A two RBI double from junior Hayden Smith narrowed the deficit in the fifth, and a pair of hits in the sixth put two runs in scoring position with two outs. Snow Canyon found some fortune when a grounder raced past Mountain Crest second baseman Luke Palmer, which resulted in two runs. Snow Canyon capitalized on the error and piled on three straight hits off reliever Jackson Hill, including a go-ahead RBI from Smith.
"You have to keep your team motivated because you're facing a fourth (pitcher in the rotation), because they've thrown maybe their one, two and three in the three games they played," Secrist said. "If you go into the game thinking, 'Oh, we're gonna get a lot of good pitches to hit and we're gonna hammer this guy,' that's almost the wrong mindset because (Buttars) threw really well for them."
Mountain Crest mustered three straight hits to load the bases in the seventh, but after Snow Canyon sophomore pitcher Andrew Lyons' sudden call for time after beginning his deliver wasn't called for a balk, junior Maxwell Hornsby grounded out to end the game.
It's a crushing end to the season for a Mustang team who won the Region 11 title outright and boasted one of the state's best pitchers in senior Andrew Nielsen. For the Warriors, though, a successful season continues into the finals, thanks to three straight epic victories.
"We knew it was gonna be a dog fight with those northern schools — no doubt about it," Secrist said. "But Crimson Cliffs and Dixie are tough, so we gotta get prepared for one of them on Friday."
Crimson Cliffs forces extra game
On the bottom side of the 4A bracket, Dixie's unblemished playoff run came to an end as Region 10 rival Crimson Cliffs scored five runs in the second inning and flew past the Flyers 11-5 on Wednesday night in Orem.
Tate Evans led the Mustangs with three hits and three RBIs, and Petey Soto added two hits and two RBIs.
Dixie and Snow Canyon will play Thursday at 7 p.m. MDT to see who faces unbeaten Snow Canyon in Game 1 of the championship series on Friday afternoon.
