ETV News stock photo by Jeff Barrett
The 1A State Baseball Playoffs began this past weekend and Pinnacle opened up against Tintic. It was a zero, zero game until the bottom of the third, when the Panthers scratched across two runs.
They extended their lead in the bottom of the fifth when Michael Schmitz came through with a two-out, RBI triple. He then came around to score on a passed ball to make it 4-0. Pinnacle gave up one run in the sixth but answered back with four runs in the bottom half of the inning to take an 8-1 lead. The Panthers went on to win by the same score to advance to the second round.
Schmitz went 2-4 with a double, triple and an RBI. Also recording one RBI was Stetson Motte, McGuire Kocks and Rylee Smith. Motte led the way on the mound, pitching six and one third innings while giving up one run, zero earned, on four hits and three walks. He showed great command and struck out 12 batters in the contest.
The second round match up with Panguitch did not start the way Pinnacle envisioned as the Bobcats stuck early with four runs in the first inning. It was 5-0 when Smith batted home a run with the bases loaded in the third. That was the only run the Panthers were able to scratch across in the inning, leaving them trailing 5-1.
With the same score in the sixth, Panguitch added four insurance runs to put the game out of reach. Smith added another RBI in the seventh but it was not enough as Pinnacle lost 9-2.
Jayson Miller went 2-3 with a run, Landon Hardy went 2-4 with a run and Smith finished 2-4 with two RBIs at the plate. Mikey Vigil lasted four and two third innings and gave up four runs, three earned, on six hits while striking out seven batters.
The loss marks the end of the season that saw the Panthers finish 5-16 overall and 3-11 in region play.