| Green River players congratulate Brent Johnson on a score. |
The top four 1-A baseball squads reside in Region 15 but unfortunately for the Green River Pirates, only three of them make the state play-offs. The Pirates were odd man out when they finished the season with three straight region losses against the others.
The Pirates finished the season with a 16-6 record but Panguitch, Wayne and Piute all finished with comparable records or better and earned the three slots available for region teams in the tournament.
In the final week, the Pirates had 14 hits against Piute but lost 7-5. The Pirates had 13 hits against Wayne but lost 7-6. The Pirates closed out the year at Panguitch and lost 10-3.
Panguitch, Wayne and Piute finished the season ranked one, two and three in the Salt Lake papers. St. Joseph and Wasatch Academy rounded out the top five. Green River defeated all but Wayne during the season.
Also making the tournament besides the five above were Tintic, Tabiona and Intermountain Christian. Green River also defeated Tabiona. In fact, the five other teams that made state were 0-12 against region 15 teams.
The Pirates conclude a good season as the batters hit the ball well most of the year and had good pitching. Sometimes the fates are just against you.
Coach Greg Parsons had thoughts on the season, “We are disappointed by the final outcome. We do not get a chance to go and battle at state. It was a good year, a fun year for us. It just didn’t end the way we liked.”
Parsons then looked ahead, “We will lose eight seniors from this team and we will return six players from this year’s squad. I am looking forward to the challenge of rebuilding the team into a formidable region squad for next season.”