Springville eliminates Payson

OGDEN — The Springville Red Devils have known all season that as a general rule, their games are won and lost by how the team performs at the plate.

"Our pitching has been pretty consistent all year," said Springville coach Willy Child. "It is nice when we can put up some runs. The way we win is when our line-up relaxes and hits the ball."

Springville heeded its coach's words in its 11-1 five-inning victory over rival Payson in the Class 4A state baseball tournament.

The Devils put 12 hits on the board and looked comfortable and capable in all of their at-bats in eliminating the Lions.

Springville got off to a hot start as Brennan Foster and Mark Averett began the Devils' half of the first with walks. A double to the gap from Steve Nelson scored both, and Koy Jasperson followed with an RBI-single to score Nelson. Jumping to a 3-0 lead made things much easier on starting pitcher Danny Mecham.

"It is always nice to know that your team can put up some runs for you," Mecham said. "It helps because you know your job is to just throw strikes and let the other guys do the rest. With a lead, you can relax more and just try to find the plate."

Mecham, who didn't record a strikeout, wasn't overpowering but did a good job of throwing strikes in allowing just one run on two hits.

"Danny did a good job for us," said Child. "He has been that way for us most of the year."

While Mecham did what was asked of him on the mound, the Devils' bats remained hot.

In the decisive second inning, Springville sent 11 players to bat and plated six runs. During that inning Mecham helped himself with an RBI-single that was the start of five straight hits. For the day, Alec Clements and Nelson were 2-for-3 with two RBIs apiece while Jasperson had two hits for three RBIs.

Springville scored two more times in the fourth on an Adam Gray RBI-double and he later scored on an error.

The Red Devils move on to face Murray today at 11 a.m. at Lindquist Field in the one-loss bracket.

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E-mail: mblack@desnews.com