Sports Commentator Patrick Blake is host of Blake’s Take, airing weekdays from 5-6 p.m. on KZNU Sports Radio Southern Utah Sports Network – 93.1 FM 1450 AM – with live stream online at http://www.KZNUsports.com.
KEARNS – The Snow Canyon Warriors are state shampions after beating the Juan Diego Soaring Eagles 5-1 Saturday in the second game of the day between the two teams.
The Warriors made things a little more difficult on themselves by losing the first game of the State Championship Saturday morning. The Soaring Eagles upset the tournament favorite’s, Spanish Fork in the 9 a.m. game to advance to take on the Warriors in the championship game.
The Warriors beat the Soaring Eagles in the first round of the tournament, sending the Soaring Eagles to the consolation bracket. The Soaring Eagles battled back to get to the state championship game and tried to win their third straight 3A state championship.
The morning had three defending champions vying for another championship. The Warriors won the 3A state championship in 2007 before moving up to 4A, so the Warriors made it a goal all season to try and defend their 3A title from 2007. The Soaring Eagles had won back-to-back 3A state championships coming in to the day, and Spanish Fork was the defending 4A state champions competing in 3A for the first time.
Being that the Warriors were still in the winners’ bracket, the Soaring Eagles had to beat the Warriors twice before they could be crowned state champions.
In game one they beat the Warriors 2-0. The Warriors took a gamble saving their best pitcher (maybe the best pitcher in the state) Riley Gates for the just incase game, but Gates came up lame late in the game and was not able to pitch the final game.
Gates pitched seven innings the night before in the win over Spanish Fork in the semis.
The great thing about championship teams is they have more then one weapon and Austin Ovard stepped up big for the Warriors. Ovard lost the first game only giving up two runs but came in, in relief to save the game for the Warriors ending the game with three-straight strikeouts. Ovard also came up with many key hits and RBI’s throughout the tournament. Ovard had three RBI’s in the final game.
Michael Jensen got the win in the final game for the Warriors stepping in for Gates. Jensen gave up a run in the third inning and the Warriors fell in a 1-0 hole but the answered with three in the top of the fourth inning. The Warriors added two more runs in the top of the fifth before Ovard came in to finish the game off.
Congrats to the 2012 State Baseball Champions the Snow Canyon Warriors!
For more STATE TOURNAMENT talk, tune into Blake’s Take weekdays from 5-6 p.m. on KZNU Sports Radio – 93.1 FM 1450 AM – or online streaming live on KZNU Sports website: www.kznusports.com
Twitter: @BlakesTake