1A STATE: Panthers strike fast, rout Beatty to capture title

It has been said that quality pitching wins baseball championships.

Pahranagat Valley coach Brad Loveday agrees, but he thinks hitting and defense are equally important.

Loveday got all three from his players on Saturday, as the Panthers jumped ahead early and cruised to a 15-0 win over Beatty to claim the Class 1A state title in a five-inning game at Sunrise Mountain.

The coach said he didn’t expect a blowout but admitted he wasn’t completely surprised by the final score. “I don’t remember a state championship game ever being like that,” he said. “But I knew these kids were capable of it.”

Pahranagat Valley pitcher Cody Hosier, a senior, completed his only season of high school baseball by tossing a three-hitter. He struck out five and looked masterful in working out of jams in the first two innings.

“When I didn’t hit anybody in the first two innings, I kind of knew it was going to be a good day,” said Hosier, who hit seven batters in a game last week. “I knew I just had to throw strikes, and my defense would play well behind me.”

The Panthers committed no errors, but a few miscues would hardly have mattered.

After scoring two runs in the first inning, Pahranagat Valley erupted in the second. Tyler Higbee led off the inning with a single, and the first nine Panthers to come to the plate scored in an inning highlighted by Chase Hansen’s three-run triple.

Though Loveday said his hitters were in a groove, he credited much of the win to the depth of his pitching staff.

“Part of the issue was that Beatty had to battle (from the losers’ bracket) yesterday,” the coach said. “They were tired because they went through a lot of pitching.

“We had a fresh kid that hasn’t thrown at all.”