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Show Pleasant Grove Review New Utah - Thursday, April 22, 2004 - Page 6 V Sports editor. PO Beky B, bb s RTS Pair of region victories return baseball Vikings to the hy ; By Todd Veenker Sports Correspondent ' The Pleasant Grove base-'ball base-'ball team picked a great .time to get their season ' back on track. After dropping drop-ping four of their first five 'region games, the Vikings appeared to be headed for their second straight season without a playoff appearance appear-ance after 30 years in postseason post-season play. 1 A nonregion victory over i Olympus (3-2) on April 12 cjust hours after returning from Las Vegas was fol lowed up with league victories victo-ries over Orem 7-3 the next day and Lone Peak 5-1 on Monday. In what very easily could have been a letdown game, the Vikings traveled to Salt Lake to take on an Olympus team that had just returned from the same tournament in Las Vegas. However, Pleasant Grove looked relaxed and confident confi-dent coming up with a quick run in the top of the first inning. Josh Smith managed man-aged to work his way ,f,.,N. x 7 I.lf -v : I . " Kyle Beecher delivers against Lone Peak on Monday. around the bases following a walk. Smith took advantage advan-tage of a Kyler Drew hit on the right side of the field for the game's first point. Olympus answered with two runs in the bottom half of the inning, but the Vikings didn't panic. Instead Kyle Beecher remained confident on the mound and didn't allow another Titan run the rest of the way. Beecher pitched his first complete game of the season with 10 strikeouts. In the fourth inning, the Vikings evened the score with a Dallin Wimer single that drove in Devin Walker. The score remained tied until the top of the seventh inning. Josh Smith got the seventh sev-enth started on a positive note as his double put the Vikings in scoring position with just one out. Alex Iorg quickly became the latest Pleasant Grove hero as he singled in the go-ahead, and eventual winning, run. One day later, Pleasant Grove returned to region play as Orem came to town. The Tigers had started the Vikings' four-game region losing streak and Pleasant Grove wasn't about to let Orem get another easy win. Drew and Walker each singled in the second inning and were later driven home thanks to hits from Wimer and Austin Christensen. While Pleasant Grove was getting their bats warmed up, Eric Wilkes was confusing the Orem lineup with an outstanding day on the mound. Wilkes finished Soccer rebounds with 2 wins By Dean Von Memmott Sports Correspondent The Pleasant Grove soccer soc-cer team rebounded from a tough loss by picking up two straight wins last week. At Orem April 13, the Vikings won 3-1. Pleasant Grove scored five second-half goals to win 6-1 at home Friday over American Fork in a nonregion contest. Against Orem, Viking coach Erik Bayles said, "We spread the ball out and denied them chances for good shots. Jay Helquist scored two goals in the game, and Tyler Gibb made the other shots. Jay scored the first goal, and Gibb the next one. Orem made their only goal on a penalty kick. "In the second half, Helquist scored his second goal. The win at Orem was a big one for us. It put our record at 1-1. Our games against Timpanogos and Mountain View are going to be big ones for us." Bayles was not pleased with the Vikings' performance perform-ance in the first half of the 'i . 7 3 1 r r H4 ! ; Photo by Kent Davis A Pleasant Grove defender prepares to clear the ball from his own end during the game with the Cavemen. American Fork contest. The coach said, "We didn't play well in the first half. I saw lots of laziness. Even though it was non-league, the guys needed to play as if it really counted. "We have Timpanogos and Mountain View coming up. We were just looking past American Fork," he added. The Vikings still spent much of the first half on the Cavemen's end of the field. Helquist and Brett Waters led frequent deep drives inside American Fork's territory. ter-ritory. Supported by Bryce Schneider, Caveman goalie Jay Baker kept the Vikings scoreless until Waters scored a goal midway through the first half. American Fork did not let the Vikings jack up the score just yet. Jared Vogels-berg Vogels-berg and Andy Harrison led some deep penetrations of Pleasant Grove's ground. Nevertheless, the Vikings didn't let the Cavemen fire more than three shots at the goal during the entire night. In the first half's closing minutes, the Vikings drew a violation inside their penalty penal-ty box. Picked to take the penalty kick, Vogelsberg booted the ball past Joey Webb and into the goal net, and the tie held up until the break. In the next half, Pleasant Grove became physical on the field, intimidating the Cavemen. Once Helquist broke the 1-1 tie, the second period turned into a long nightmare for American Fork. During the ensuing 5-0 scoring run, Taylor scored two goals, and Waters and Jordan Priest each kicked in a goal during the rally. Mountain View visits this afternoon, and the Vikings travel to Lone Peak on Tuesday. Varsity game time is 3:30 p.m. v 0 , ' -1 i U 7 Viking first baseman Christian King snags the ball during the end and cut the Orem comeback four runs short. Monday afternoon the Vikings looked for their second sec-ond opportunity to avenge an earlier region loss as the Knights of Lone Peak came to town. The Knights have been in a little bit of a slump since starting the region schedule off with a big win over Timpanogos. Lone Peak opened the game with one run but it turned out to be their only run of the game. The Viking scored four runs in the first inning to build a lead and momentum. The key hit was an Iorg double that scored two runs. Walker then drove in two runs later in the inning. The rest of the game was the complete game, allowing allow-ing just six hits and three runs. In the third inning Pleasant Pleas-ant Grove extended the lead as Christian King got things started with a towering tower-ing home run. That was just the beginning as the Vikings added more thanks to a two-RBI double from Wimer. A Walker run in the fifth increased the lead to 6-0. The Vikings added one more run in the sLxth as Drew drove in Iorg for Pleasant Grove's final point of the game. The Tigers made things interesting in the top of the seventh with three runs, but the Pleasant Grove defense came through in tra on in ' re t N wit Vil Tig Loi 64, car Pie thr the i 20( wa dai lia in hui r fiel top pul ,' an sisi .. dis - fou in 1 Photos by 0;: r apickoff attempt Ap. a pitcher's duel, Beecher came up r second consecufc plete game, alk-four alk-four hits while str five. Pleasant Grove ii insurance run in j thanks to a deep t-by t-by Smith. Tomorrow the? begin the final tlr. region schedule s, tain View pays a : Hoover Field. Ta have turned into i prise team of tie s: they find themseh with limpanogQ: league lead. Next week Grove's lone rtt will be at Orem os at 4 p.m. ( Pie k-. . . ' J " nn J , v . j iXsmmmmz Photo c 4- H i r nis reg act: Ma 13, on' " ( ; onl- 7-5' ; moi ; clos - the the sinj . 1 goo 6,4 X 1 Wil - cun Jon Bra h5 1 Pleasant Grove's Allyce Wilson steals third base safely against Lone Peakon2.4 Softball beaten twice in regi By Dean Von Memmott Sports Correspondent The Pleasant Grove soft-ball soft-ball team dropped two Region 7 games last week. At Lone Peak, the Knights defeated the Vikings 4-3 on April 13. The Vikings then lost at home to Mountain View 0-7 on Thursday. In the first inning of the Lone Peak game, shortstop Hilary Welch grounded out one player, then caught a fly ball. Another groundout retired the Vikings to the field. After second baseman Lauren Roderick had snatched a Jena Sears fly ball, Welch doubled in Alicia Trujillo, then came home on an error. Pitcher Tami Peterson held the Vikings scoreless until the third inning. ln the top of the third, Kim Burton singled in McKell Wilson on two outs, but catcher Trujillo snared a pop fly before Pleasant Grove could fie the game at two. Getting on base courtesy of a Pleasant Grove error in the third, Sears soon scored a Knight run on a Welch sacrifice fly. Though pitcher McKell Wilson gave up a single to Jayne Burgess, the Vikings didn't let the Knights pick up a fourth run during the third inning. , In the fourth, Peterson walked Roderick and Erin Glazier. Before the Vikings could capitalize on the two walks, the Knight defense tightened up, lettin Viking move all the around the diamond. In the fourth's top half, Allyce Wilson tripled into center, then came home on a Burton single. Burton tried to turn her hit into a double, dou-ble, but retreated toward first upon seeing the Knights converge on her. Before Burton could touch first base, she got tagged for a third out. In t he bott om of t he fift h. double .T 1 1 a weicn uuu". :i resulted in LonfU ingthe baa on p Before the Kn p score a run th retersongotbal home. and Lone Pe:lli,ratl 1, Son after having field single- hitJRed be t no wav In the top olu;.':iay; rieasant Grove 1- T bases, d,i:the Mortensen scon'-an scon'-an Allyce grouncu'iH. In the game, f!he SIC former team to t1 n tc her. i"i- up two Wright- who P tor Mountain isant tin1 Yi Co! rieas;...- p North Sanp't ( noonn,an then goes to Tuesday. |