Tyler Wardell, Herriman at Snow Canyon, St. George, Utah, Mar. 7, 2014 | Photo by Dave Amodt, St. George News
ST. GEORGE — Snow Canyon is way beyond sneaking up on anyone. Way beyond. So the Warriors, who are looking to win their third straight 3A baseball championship in 2014, are left with the only other alternative: Show up as heavy favorites and simply crush all challengers.
That’s what they did Friday at the KJ Harrison Memorial Invitational, blasting 3A Judge Memorial 15-1 and then dominating 5A Herriman 7-1.
“Yeah, they played well,” SC coach Reed Sechrist said.
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Remembering KJ, Herriman at Snow Canyon, St. George, Utah, Mar. 7, 2014 | Photo by Dave Amodt, St. George News
His team, which is a perennial contender, had some retooling to do in the offseason with the loss of some stars, most notably fireball lefthander Riley Gates. But things look just fine in Warrior Nation as SC opened the 2014 campaign in complete control, utterly dominating the Bulldogs.
The mercy-rule shortened game was Snow Canyon’s from the get-go and the Warriors cruised to an early lead.
The late game, against Herriman, wasn’t mercy-shortened, but was almost as dominant as the Mustangs were never really in it. Tyler Wardell pitched a complete game and also hit a double to help himself. Snow Canyon struck for two runs in the first inning and added three more in the second inning for an early 5-0 lead.
The Warriors plated two more in the fourth to go up 7-0. Herriman finally got on the board with a run in the seventh, but that was it as SC began the season 2-0.
The Warriors battle Maple Mountain at 1 p.m. Saturday.
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Remembering KJ, Herriman at Snow Canyon, St. George, Utah, Mar. 7, 2014 | Photo by Dave Amodt, St. George News
Herriman at Snow Canyon, St. George, Utah, Mar. 7, 2014 | Photo by Dave Amodt, St. George News
Herriman at Snow Canyon, St. George, Utah, Mar. 7, 2014 | Photo by Dave Amodt, St. George News
Herriman at Snow Canyon, St. George, Utah, Mar. 7, 2014 | Photo by Dave Amodt, St. George News
Herriman at Snow Canyon, St. George, Utah, Mar. 7, 2014 | Photo by Dave Amodt, St. George News
Herriman at Snow Canyon, St. George, Utah, Mar. 7, 2014 | Photo by Dave Amodt, St. George News
Herriman at Snow Canyon, St. George, Utah, Mar. 7, 2014 | Photo by Dave Amodt, St. George News
Herriman at Snow Canyon, St. George, Utah, Mar. 7, 2014 | Photo by Dave Amodt, St. George News
Herriman at Snow Canyon, St. George, Utah, Mar. 7, 2014 | Photo by Dave Amodt, St. George News
Herriman at Snow Canyon, St. George, Utah, Mar. 7, 2014 | Photo by Dave Amodt, St. George News
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2014, all rights reserved.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andy Griffin has been in sports media since 1989 and has covered BYU, Utah State and the Utah Jazz as well as all sports in southern Utah. A journalism graduate of USU, Andy has carried on a dual career as both a sports writer and a sports broadcaster and has been heard around the country. He has also been published in USA Today, Sport magazine, The Sporting News, Fairways magazine, the Los Angeles Times and locally in the Deseret News, the Salt Lake Tribune and the Spectrum. Andy was “The Voice of Region 9 sports,” for many years. He also hosted a daily sports talk show for three years called AG in the a.m.
Andy has been married to his college sweetheart Shelly for 28 years and has five children ages 13 to 25.