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Show Cyan Magenta Yellow Black Wednesday, March 23, 2005 A9 Sanpete Messenger/Gunnison Valley Edition Shhh...the Bulldogs are undefeated By Sean Hales Associate editor COALVILLE—There’s a hushed reverence surrounding Gunnison baseball this year. After disappointing seasons in football and basketball, Bulldog fans are hungry for something to cheer about. But no one’s cheering too loudly. It’s as though the baseball gods are ignoring the Gunnison Valley and no one wants to bring the Bulldogs to the attention of the fickle masters of injury and distraction. But the fact is, Gunnison is 7-0 after the second week of the season with three wins last week—over South Sevier, 8-0, at home on Tuesday; on the road Wednesday over Canyon View, 12-6; and over North Summit, 9-4, on Friday. And both the Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News rank the Bulldogs first in 2-A baseball. So whether fans like it or not, everyone knows who the Bulldogs are. Part of the Bulldogs’ success traces to starting pitcher Justin Hill. Through six games, Hill has started three and produced a .41 ERA. Gunnison head coach Jared Anderson points out that Hill broke the school record last year with 74 strikeouts and has already produced about 50 Ks this year. “He’s flat out shutting teams down right now,” said Anderson. Against South Sevier, Hill pitched a complete game, allowing only four hits and striking out 14. Another part is the Bulldogs’ depth. Braeden Reid started the game against 3-A Canyon View, and although he allowed six runs in the first inning, only two other Canyon View players stepped foot on a base for the rest of the game. “He battled out that first inning and kept us in it,” said Anderson, “Braeden mentally took SEAN HALES / MESSENGER PHOTO Bulldog Jake Childs finds his balance after sliding in for an easy score over the South Sevier Rams last week. The Bulldogs are off to a 7-0 start this season with three wins last week. over the game.” On offense, Joey Crane—who went 3 for 3 against South Sevier and produced two runs and Chad Avery lead Gunnison’s potent offense. Through six games Crane is slugging .778 with eight runs and 10 RBIs, and Avery is slugging .643 for six runs and six RBIs. Anderson said that last year, and in the preseason this year, the coaching staff and team focused on what each member could contribute, on capitalizing on individual strengths. “Each of them have their own role and understand their role for this team to win,” he said. He cited, as an example, designated hitter Tyson Hopkins, who hit two, two-run home runs against North Summit to seal the Bulldog victory in the fourth inning. “It was a big win for us,” said Anderson. “We had to make a statement in the north…and I think we did that.” Given the Bulldogs’ recent success and the fact that baseball is a sport of peaks and valleys, it’s surprising that Anderson said he’s not worried about his team peaking too early. He said that performance-wise, the team still has room to improve, and that the team is winning because of smart play and minimizing errors. Now, however, Gunnison is heading into region play and the Bulldogs are focusing on their goal of a first or second seed into the tournament, “The state of Utah has seen what we can do,” Anderson said, “but that was pre-region. Now it’s a whole new season…we just have to take it one game at a time.” One game at a time includes a road game against North Sevier Tuesday (results not available at press time) and another road game against Manti on Thursday. Anderson said that he’s not taking anything for granted against the Templars. Manti started the season 4-0 and lost a close game to Richfield last Tuesday. The only question mark on Gunnison’s season is a 6-6 tie against the Richfield Wildcats. The Bulldogs were playing Richfield in Kanab opening weekend when the game was called in the fourth inning due to darkness. Templar girls win first eight games Manti places fifth at By Mitch Peterson Staff writer ST. GEORGE—The Manti Lady Templars softball team is off to a fast start, winning the first eight games of the season. Five of those wins came against some tough competition at the annual March Warm-up Tournament in St. George last weekend. The Templars are also 2-0 in Region 12 action with wins over Gunnison and Richfield, thanks in part to the arm of ace pitcher Mandy Hatch and the hot bat of first baseman Kelsey Johnson. After defeating Gunnison in their first region game, the Templars hosted Richfield last Tuesday and came away with an 11-2 win as Hatch threw a complete game featuring 11 strikeouts and no walks. She also held the Wildcats hitless until giving up a single with one out in the sixth inning, finishing with a three-hitter. Offensively, Johnson hit three singles and reached on a fielder’s choice, giving her a perfect on-base percentage for the game. In their two region contests, the Templars outscored their opponents by a score of 24-3. Hatch has 19 strikeouts in 11 innings for that stretch, while Johnson is 6 for 7 at the plate, including two doubles. Manti head coach Steve Lund says the team is playing “a little better” than he expected. “The girls have played well, and they’re having fun,” he said. “As long as we stay close as a team, we’ll have a good year.” The 2A Templars traveled to St. George last weekend to defend their title at the annual 2A and 3A March Warm-up Tournament and were initially bracketed with Dixie, Wasatch, and Grantsville: all topnotch 3A programs. Before the tournament, Lund was looking forward to the sea- son-long benefits of going against that level of competition. “We couldn’t ask to be in a better bracket,” he said. “Those teams will teach us something about ourselves.” The Templars came out of the bracket with a 3-0 record, beating Wasatch 8-5, Grantsville 1-0 and Dixie 9-2. The Templars next faced Page, Ariz., and came away with an 8-0 victory. Hatch had eight strikeouts and gave up just three hits in that game, while the Templars’ offense cranked out 16 hits. McKenzie Whipple and Andie Shaw were each three-forthree at the plate against Page, and Shaw, Brittney Pyper, Meagan Buchanan and Carrie Oberg each had doubles. That got Manti into the final game against a team from Idaho Falls, Idaho, and in a tight battle the Templars pulled out a 4-2 win. The game was tied 2-2 in the sixth inning, and due to time con- straints, the teams were forced to play the final inning under international tiebreaker rules. That means a team starts the inning with a runner on second base. For the Templars that runner was Holli Harman. Kelsey Johnson hit a sacrifice fly to score Harman, and Mandi Hatch singled to drive in Cassidy Lund later in the inning, giving Manti a two-run lead. Hatch, who had 10 strikeouts in the game, held Idaho Falls scoreless to preserve the win for the Templars. Lund and Carrie Oberg each had doubles in the game, and the Templars had 12 hits overall. The Templars have won their portion of this tourney for four straight years. This week, they’ll travel to Monroe to tangle with the defending 2-A state champion South Sevier Rams in a key Region 12 match-up, then head to Utah County for a non-region game with the 4A Orem Tigers. Manti hangs close to Richfield in near win Templars ability to compete against tough Richfield team ‘encouraging indicator’ By Sean Hales Associate editor MANTI—No one likes to lose. But in this case, Manti baseball head coach Tom Trythall will take last week’s 1-3 loss to the Richfield Wildcats as an encouraging indication that the Templars can compete against tough teams. “Overall, I feel really good about our ability to compete with a tough team,” Trythall said in an e-mail about the game. “It was … a great learning experience for us.” Trythall said the team had a lot to be proud of. For starters, the Templars hung close with a tough Richfield team, a team that handed Manti 14-2 and160 losses in games last year. In fact, Trythall said that Manti was superior to Richfield in pitching and hitting but just couldn’t get runners around the plate. The game was largely a battle between Manti pitcher Zach Stewart and Richfield’s Cameron Cowley. “If someone would have told me before the game that my pitcher was going to strike out 12 batters, and that only one hitter would strike out for my team I wouldn’t have been able to imagine losing,” he said in the e-mail. According to Trythall, the Templars were also able to consistently make contact with Cowley’s (See “Templars” on A10) Carbon Invitational Gunnison track team produces impressive individual performances By Mitch Peterson Staff writer PRICE—The Manti Templars and Gunnison Bulldogs track and field teams turned in some impressive individual performances at the Carbon Invitational in Price last weekend, and Manti’s boys team finished in fifth place overall. Before the meet, Manti coach Jack Rapier wasn’t sure how his team would do, but afterward he was pleased with their performance. “We did an outstanding job,” he said. “Everybody did better than they thought they’d do.” Individually in the girls’ events, Manti’s Sili Hafoka took first place in the shot put with a throw of 34 feet 8 inches, and also placed third in the discus at 89 feet 1 inch. Hafoka has set school records in both those events this year, with a shot put toss of 35 feet 6 inches, and a discus throw of 98 feet. Gunnison’s Laci Higgins was third in the shot put at Carbon, at 29 feet 5 inches. Gunnison high jumper Catie Davis finished in second place, and Manti’s Kelly Stevens was fifth in the same event. Both cleared the bar at 4 feet 9 inches, but Davis finished higher due to fewer misses at the previous height. Manti’s Terrell Chandler took third place in the 100-meter hurdles final with a time of 17.09, and teammate Amanda Copeland was sixth in the 100meter dash. Manti’s 400-meter relay Kf je ($-+ 6EN SEAN HALES / MESSENGER FILE PHOTO Manti pitcher Zach Stewart pitched a complete game with 12 strike outs against the Richfield Wildcats last week. Manti lost the contest 1-3, but head coach Tom Trythall said the team had a lot to be proud of in the close loss. ed =ebZ CWha[jFbki ?H7 team of Venessa Shelley, Aubrey Tibbs, Joni Gordon, and Amanda Copeland finished fifth. On the boys’ side, Manti’s Kyle Hatch won the 100-meter dash in a time of 11.48, while teammate Dexter Rowley finished fourth in the 200 meters at 24.13. Hatch and Rowley then teamed up with Tim Dalene and Chris Hunt to win the 400-meter relay for the Templars. Manti’s Ammon Boorman was third in the shot put with a toss of 42 feet 10 inches, and also finished third in the discus with a throw of 124 feet 10 inches. Defending 2A 300-meter hurdles champion Tim Dalene of Manti had the second fastest qualifying times in both that event and the 110-meter hurdles, but didn’t compete in the finals due to a nagging injury. His times in the preliminaries were good enough to qualify him for state later in the year. Manti’s Sili Hafoka, Amanda Copeland, Terrell Chandler, Ammon Boorman, and Kyle Hatch, along with Gunnison’s Catie Davis, also set marks that qualify them for state. Gunnison coach Kirk James says he expects Catie Davis and Laci Higgins to continue doing well and expects good things from Jack Pay, who set a shot put school record this year at a previous meet, throwing just over 49 feet. Manti and Gunnison will each be hosting meets in April. I?=D KF <EH 7 P?EDI 87DA ?H7 8;<EH; 7FH?B '+J> 7D: BEM;H OEKH (&&* J7N;I$ BZbWZg ;9>8 lll#o^dchWVc`#Xdb ! QUALIFYING DEPOSIT IS NEW MONEY DEPOSITED THAT REPRESENTS A MINIMUM )2! CONTRIBUTION OF OR MORE 4RANSFER OF EXISTING )2! 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