Green River stomps Wasatch Academy

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The Green River Pirate baseball team played a home game against the Wasatch Academy Tigers on Melon Days Friday and an away game against the Dugway Mustangs on Sept. 25. With a couple of wins against the Tigers and a split between the Mustangs, the Pirates hold an 11-7 record leading up to the State Quarter Finals in Spanish Fork on Oct. 6. Based on the Pirates record, they’re confident they will be playing in the quarterfinals; they just don’t know which team that will be.
The Pirates were jazzed going into the game with the Tigers. They were ending a two-week dry spell with no games. The Pirates started the first game off with three out of four batters called out on strikes and stranding one on first. At the plate the number two batter, Holden Marshall hit down the third base line, stole third and scored on a passed ball at home. The rest of that game and the second game was pretty much the same way with the first game being called after five and a half innings and a score of 15-0. The second game was also called with an 11-1 score.
After a long bus ride and described by some as ‘in the middle of nowhere’, the Pirates took to the field against the Dugway Mustangs. The Pirates came into the game with hopes of leaving with two wins and they started out looking like that was in the cards with a six run second inning. The third and fourth innings were pretty dry with Dugway scoring four runs to bring it within striking distance. After five complete innings the score was 7-6 with the Pirates holding a slim lead.
The top of the sixth inning had the Pirates at the top of their line up when as the number three hitter, Jason Johnson was patient at the plate and watched a high and outside 3-1 pitch get called for a ball. With Jason on first base, Keith Clark took a 2-1 pitch and sent it over the center fielder’s head for a sweet double, trading places with Jason Johnson who easily scored a much needed run.
The Pirates added a run in the top of the seventh inning but the game was far from over. The Dugway Mustangs were playing before a sellout crowd (looked like a sell out) at home and they could taste a come back win. Dugway was at the top of their line up when Holden Marshall threw him out looking. The second batter was patient and watched a 3-2 pitch (after two foul balls to keep his hopes alive) hit the dirt and strutted off to first.The third batter was also patient and he watched a 3-0 pitch sail on by for his free pass to first base, which gave opportunity for the base runner to steal second base. Using the excitement, the second batter headed for third where an over throw allowed him to make it home. The crowd began to get restless. The second batter feeling his fortunes to be better motored off towards second base when Justin Johnson sent a rocket of a throw to Elias Polito who tagged him out at second. The fourth batter was a bit more nervous and knew he was in trouble when Holden threw a side-arm curve on a 1-2 pitch to retire the inning and secure the win.
Nothing like the score to keep the crowds in check. The Pirates were excited and the Mustangs needed to focus-and focus they did. The Mustangs came out in the bottom of the second inning to score their first run. The Pirates answered in the top of the third but the Mustangs added two more for a 3-1 lead heading into the fourth inning where each team scored an additional run.
To the top of the fifth inning where the Pirates need to score two or more runs to tie it up or take the lead-if not, they split the games and suffer a fate that was all to familiar with them just a short year earlier where the Dugway Mustangs visited Green River and dashed their hopes of an outright region championship. It was not to be, the Pirates were a bit too impatient at the plate by having one batter getting called out on strikes and two batters popping up in the in field.
So the fate of the Green River Pirate baseball team rests in the hands of the Tintic Miners and the ever so familiar Dugway Mustangs. Their games this week determine the eventual quarterfinal spot for the Pirates. Go Mustangs.