Comments about ‘High school baseball: East rallies to beat Salem Hills in 4A tourney’

Are you kidding me? 150 pitches, that's criminal... It's no wonder these kids arms turn into hamburger after high school. These coaches need to be held responsible for their ignorance. NO kid in high school should throw 150 pitches in a game...do they only have one pitcher? Wow incredible

Way to go East. Enjoy the ride!!!

What is criminal is having baseballer comment on things he does not know about. The only thing those coaches are responsible for are for guiding these boys to two wins yesterday. Great job East!

Kids used to throw 7 innings all the time. Thats the way baseball was. Now you get guys that can only throw one inning, if you've got the horses, you might as well ride them. After the first 2 innings, Salem Hills couldn't touch Lords.

Tell me what's worse...leaving a kid in the game who is still throwing gas and is showing no signs of being tired, or throwing a kid the day after he threw seven innings and looked so sore taking IO that he could barely throw the ball home (Bountiful's ace)? If you stay warm, then throwing a lot of pitches is far better for your arm then trying to come back the day after throwing a hundred and getting your arm going again. What ruins arms is throwing too many junk curve balls starting at age 12 or throwing 14 innings a week for an entire season, as some do. If a kid has been training correctly then 150 isn't criminal, it's amazing and gutsy. That east kid deserves a pat on the back, especially to throw 150 and get a win over a good Salem Hills squad.

Seems like someone from Bountiful is still a little bitter about East, and having to travel to Spanish.

How about some predictions on SF-Snow Canyon and East-Mountain Crest.... I'm calling SF and Mountain Crest.

RE: Baseballer
You along with all the other "baseball" people need to get over the "pitch count" nonsense. Every kid is different and every arm is different. I call it giving everything on the mound and competing until the end vs. usually coming out of the game when it is on the line in the 6th and 7th innings. Yes you don't want to throw a kid 150+ pitches every game like I'm sure this coach is aware of. However, there comes a time to nut up and go all in! That's the X factor some kids just don't have and that's why many teams are sitting at home right now, because there big gun on the mound came out of the game early because daddy said so. Get over it! People like you think probably think a kid is going to hurt their arm when it's cold too. These types of comments sure make me appreciate my father and his willingness to back off and let his son compete without mythical rules such as pitch counts.

Adam, thanks for the commentary. The comment i made is backed up with opinions from professionals far far smarter then me. I agree with the X factor completely and it should be a case by case deal. Very good comment. But for every guy that gets IT there is is 25 dopey guys that don't and hurt kids because of egos. Very good comment though.

At this point in the season, the coach and kid know how far he can go.

Tyler Blood is one of the most consistant hitters in the state, I would of walked Blood also in the same situation.
Bountiful lost because they under estimated East and threw Byington against Stansbury, it was the correct move also because you never knew what Stansbury team was going to show up, it was all or nothing for the braves and Stansbury was dangerous. The Braves fans need to get over it.
East plays as a team and they are a prime example what can happen when you get sick and tired of losing game after game, year after year after year.
I wish them the best but I fear the lack playoff experience and no depth in the bullpen will rear it's ugly head very soon. Never the less they should be proud and have proved many people including myself wrong all year long.

Humdinger:

I think you make some good points, however East does have a decent bullpen with Blood as their main option out of the pen. I also know they have a couple of guys that all they do is just pitch. So if needed they have a strong one but I think the way their coach has managed them in the playoffs has been a huge difference maker. I think everyone has under estimated them completely and now people have to stop and give them their just due as they have made a believer out of me. I wish nothing but the best to Crew, Nate, Steven, Tanner and the boys I just wish my boy (at highland) could have experienced some of this success but sadly it doesnt look like that will happen.

There is no reason why East can't beat Mountain Crest. I think SF has shown some vulnerability but they should win it in the end, nobody is deeper from 1-9 in the line-up, great defense, coaching and the pitching is just deep and good. But believe it or not, like last year, the Dons are showing some chinks in their armor. But even not playing at their best, like what happened at state last year, they just have so much depth and quality, they will be hard to beat.

Snow Canyon may be a legit threat.

I think there are so many teams in 4-A that are really close in quality. Look how Westlake dispatched Timpanogos after defeating Provo, both of which finished ahead of them in region. East wins a couple of close ones where they could have easily lost. I see Snow Canyon and SF a cut above the rest but they will meet in one half of the bracket. East vs. MC is a toss-up. I think East might have some edge in pitching and Coach Harward has done a great job. MC's biggest strength is their coach.

I have no respect for Bountiful because when they played SF in the first state tournament game and their ace had plenty of rest they went to a junior who threw JV most of the year. That sends a horrible message to the entire state. As far as the talk about East goes, East is a very good team, but they only have two pitchers in Lords and Carlson. I can say that both guys are good pitchers, but they can also be beat and that two pitchers can survive easily because Olympus had four solid pitchers and they went two and out. It all depends on the day because I will say East has good enough hitting to support those two pitchers. Olympus does not have the hitting for their four pitchers because in their first game they scored only 3 runs and in their second game they only scored 3 runs. Many of you may disagree, but hitting is far more important at this point in the state tournament than any other aspect of the game

Pitch Count does matter & so does the X factor. I agree with baseballer why let some coach's ego ruin a boys arm. A prime example of over pitching was CH's No. 1 pitcher. By tournament time his arm was toast, but through region he pitched over a hundred pitches per game, some games well over 120.