High school 5A baseball: Alta picks up another 12-10 win

SANDY — In playoff baseball, a squad can take advantage of fatiguing pitchers and fundamental soundness to advance in high-scoring games.

Alta has done just that this postseason, riding two huge innings, line drives and thieving base runners to grab its second straight 12-10 win, this time defeating Layton to advance.

Alta will face the winner of Wednesday's Taylorsville-West Jordan matchup on Tuesday at Utah Valley University.

"Being in that winners' bracket, anything can happen," said Alta coach Barry Harrington. "It was just a team effort, and everyone played really well. We had people come up at the plate, one through nine, getting the job done."

Alta twice jumped out to six-run leads, at 7-1 and 12-6, with Layton powering back into the game each time. The outcome was still in doubt up till the last at bat, when Layton's Karl Williams stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded. With a full count, Williams ground out to end the game, sending Layton to the losers' bracket to face Copper Hills on Monday afternoon.

After Layton got on the board in the first inning on a sacrifice fly by Alberto Perea, the Hawks' bats and cleats came alive quickly. Consecutive two-RBI singles by Parker Webster and Josh Tracy opened the gates for Alta with a 4-1 lead. Garret Smart then powered another two-RBI single before pinch runner Dakota Walbeck stole home, giving the Hawks a 7-1 advantage at the end of one.

Layton retaliated two innings later, putting up five runs on a number of base hits, with Christian Kasyan, Jaron Gold and Adam Contreras each driving in runs to narrow the gap to 7-6.

Alta again struck rapidly, however, putting up five more runs in the fourth inning. After base hits, Christian Snuffer and Trent Vanhoft each advanced on stolen bases, forcing Layton pitcher Gold to be honest.

Additional steals led the way to RBI doubles by Tracy and Bobby Pappin, fueling the Hawks to a 12-6 lead.

"When you keep putting the pressure on the defense, that plays an important part, and helps out your offense," Harrington said. "We knew coming in we had to keep pressure on them and keep them at bay."

Layton made its final charge in the sixth inning behind Alberto Perea and Christian Kasyan's RBI singles. Alta then inserted Pappin at pitcher, who proceeded to retire the side and fend off the Lancers' last gasp in the seventh.