Red Devils turn table on Tigers

OREM — To catch Orem atop the Region 7 baseball standings, Springville knew it had to turn the table on the Tigers from the first time the two teams met.

The Red Devils did exactly that Wednesday afternoon, in almost every fashion, in a 13-2 rout. The victory puts both teams in a tie for first with 7-3 marks, with five games remaining — including a season-ending rematch set for May 10 at Springville.

When the Tigers ran over the Red Devils 12-2 last month, they got solid starting pitching, put continual pressure on Springville's defense by putting the bat on the ball, scored most of their runs with two outs and needed only six innings to put the Red Devils away.

In Springville's payback win Wednesday, the Red Devils were the ones with the outstanding pitching, the ones making contact at the plate that forced the Tigers into defensive miscues, the team with the clutch hits and the team that scored nine runs with two outs. And just like the Tigers did to them, the Red Devils needed only six innings to finish the job.

"They took it to us last game, so it was big for us to come down here and hold them to two runs and get a win," Springville coach Willy Child said.

Even though Springville's 13 runs sound like it was a Red Devils' slugfest, the pitching of starter Danny Mecham had just as much to do with the win as his team's offense. Mecham scattered seven hits, but none of them came when Orem had a runner in scoring position. The Tigers put 14 runners on base, and only two of them eventually crossed the dish.

Orem put its leadoff hitter on base in five of the six innings, and Mecham left all but one of them stranded. Orem's only runs came in the second on a bases-loaded error and a balk. But Mecham escaped two other bases-loaded jams without surrendering another run.

"Orem's been swinging the bat really well, and for Danny to go out there and hold them to two runs is huge," Child said.

Highlighting Mecham's clutch pitching does not mean the Red Devils went without some big hits. Catcher Alec Clements drove in four runs with three singles and a bases-loaded walk, Riley Allred belted two doubles, Austin Howell knocked in two runs with two singles and Colby Sanford had a two-run double.

"We swung the bat a little bit better than they did today, and that was a difference," Child said.