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Show Season ends for local diamondmen About two months before the state baseball playoffs were to begin, be-gin, the Utah High School Activities Activi-ties Association changed the format for-mat for the event. All teams earning earn-ing berths, including the region champions, would be required to play inter-region games before qualifying for the eight-team double-elimination tournament. As it turned out, with one fell swoop, baseball season ended for Davis County last Wednesday. Playing under less than good conditions condi-tions due to an approaching storm, Bountiful, Davis, Viewmont and Layton all lost those inter-region games. Perhaps the biggest shocker came at Bountiful, where the 15-1 Braves were trounced by Kearns, 17-8. Bountiful led 3-2 with ace Gary Bowman on the mound, and things were looking good, but Bowman injured himself in the second inning and was forced to leave the game. About the same time, a weather front came over the playing field, changing the wind direction and causing havoc for both teams. The Braves followed with five more pitchers, including shortstop Dusty Jacobs, in an effort to stop a succession of IS walked batters. Kearns managed only eight hits, but Bountiful pitching walked in 1 1 of the Cougar 17 runs. Jacobs and Jason Cook each had extra base hits for the Braves, but a nine-run sixth inning by the Cougars sewed Bountiful's fate. Brave's coach Phil Olsen was disappointed in how the season ended, en-ded, but said "I'm really proud of these young men and the kind of year they had. Certainly a 15-2 record re-cord is nothing to be ashamed of." Ironically, the game was moved tp Wednesday due to forecasts of stormy weather on Thurdsay and Friday. Overnight, the storm system sys-tem moved north and missed Utah. Weather also played a role in Viewmont's heartbreaking 4-3 loss to Cyprus. The Pirates took the lead in the top of the sixth, but as the Vikings came to bat in the bottom bot-tom of the inning, the wind shifted directions and began blowing in. Several soft line drives Viewmont hit in the next two innings blew into easy pop ups, and the Viking season sea-son ended. Viewmont's record was 9-8 overall on the year, and the Vikes finished second in region. Davis was eliminated by Granger Gran-ger in a bizarre 17-14 decision. The Lancers made 10 errors in the game, but still advanced. And Layton lost to Hillcrest 7-1 to end the Lancers season. Winners now advance to a double-elimination tournament that began yesterday. |