Red Devils run roughshod over East to advance

SPRINGVILLE — Hitting coaches always teach that success at the plate is normally related to a batter's approach.

And when the Springville Red Devils changed their hitting thoughts midway through Tuesday's 4A first-round baseball game with the East Leopards, their bats erupted. Behind a 15-hit attack and an eight-run sixth inning, Springville thumped the Leopards 11-1 to earn a second-round match-up today with the top-ranked Cottonwood Colts.

"We talked in the fourth inning that the guys who were hitting the ball well were the ones who were not trying to do too much with the pitch," Springville coach Willy Child said. "We needed to stop trying to hit home runs and hit the ball where it was pitched."

After a two-run double by Colby Sanford in the second inning had staked the Red Devils to an early lead, they probably had all the runs they needed because of the way ace Danny Mecham was pitching. The senior right-hander, in allowing the Leopards only four singles, kept his breaking pitches down and away and his fast balls high and tight. The Leopards' only run came on a hit-and-run single by left-handed batter Matt Hansel, who drilled a grounder right through the spot that had just been vacated by Springville's second basemen. Even though East's run came with a small rally in the fourth, Mecham kept the game in hand by striking out the Leopards' No. 3 and No. 5 hitters with two runners on base.

"We felt like Danny was throwing real well and had things in control," Child said.

Still, Child was glad to see his team put the game away with an offensive outburst in the bottom of the sixth. In the inning, the Red Devils sent 12 batters to the plate and had eight hits. Six of those hits were consecutive. Koy Jasperson's two-run triple to the right-field gap was the key blast. Mecham also had two hits in the inning.

"I think our kids have learned that it doesn't matter who you play, you need to keep scoring runs and keep the pressure on," Child said.

Sanford and Mecham both finished with three RBIs for the Red Devils, with Jasperson and Steve Nelson each driving in two.

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E-mail: jimr@desnews.com