Baseball

David Ginsburg

BALTIMORE -- Manny Ramirez connected for career homer No. 500 on Saturday night, hitting a drive off Baltimore Orioles right-hander Chad Bradford to become the 24th major leaguer to reach the milestone.

With the final whistles being blown and the last outs being made in the 2007-08 season, it's time to take a look back at the year in high school sports that has finally drawn to a close.

The 9th annual Utah Valley All-Star Classic baseball game was rained out on Monday and has been rescheduled for Thursday at BYU's Miller Field.

A championship team will take turns picking up its teammates.

During the past week and a half, the Springville baseball team reached deep inside and found the heart of a champion.

Due to the taxing effect the baseball playoffs can have on a team's pitching staff, coaches tend to stick with their starting pitchers a bit longer than they would during the regular season.

It wasn't the long home run that Goose Kallunki was hoping for. It wasn't a line drive in the gap. After all, who has ever heard of a walk-off ground ball?

1 Things slowed down for Spring Break last week, meaning region play is roughly half over. That means it's time to examine the state of Utah Valley sports. Which teams have been the biggest surprises in each of the three sports?

• LLOYD: In boys soccer, the answer has to be Lehi. This Pioneer squad emerged in its new classification and shot straight to the top by knocking off the next two competitors. The softball surprise is more difficult because Spanish Fork, Springville and Tooele were all supposed to be good, but I'll take Timpview. The Thunderbirds have picked up some big wins and could get the No. 3 spot from Region 7.

• WARNER: In baseball, I think Lone Peak and Orem have been the biggest surprises. Orem is coming off a win over Springville and is just a game behind first-place Mountain View. Lone Peak is just a game behind Spanish Fork for first place in Region 4 and has a win over Timpanogos.

2 Which teams have been the biggest disappointments?

• LLOYD: I must admit that I expected the Timpanogos softball team to be stronger than it has thus far. I also didn't think the Timpview boys soccer squad would have its little slide that now leaves it with work left to do to make up ground. Both the T'Wolves and the T'Birds are very talented and still have time to put themselves back in the thick of things.

1 The Orem baseball team has come on strong during league play. Do the Tigers have a shot at winning Region 7?

• WARNER: The Tigers are only a game behind Mountain View, but I still don't think Orem will win it. The Tigers have won close games against Provo and Springville. They won't get those same breaks in the second half of region play, I guarantee it.

• LLOYD: If you want to talk contention in baseball, you have to talk pitching and Orem has got strong pitching. Nate Adamson is having a spectacular season at 7-1 so far and the Tigers have enjoyed strong performances from Mark Morgan and Josh Hamblin as well. Since Orem has guys that can make things very tough on opposing batters, they can definitely win Region 7.

2 At roughly the halfway point of the baseball season, six Utah Valley players are batting over .500. Can they keep it up?

• LLOYD: In high school baseball, the difference between a No. 1 pitcher and a No. 3 pitcher can be pretty significant. Those six guys have to take advantage of their opportunities but if they do, they can stay above the .500 mark. Players have done it before and even last year Mark Garrett nearly pulled it off. I betting that one will accomplish that impressive feat.

On Aug. 29, history will be made in high school football in southern Utah County.

Mountain View is a different team than the one that opened the season with a pair of losses by a combined score of 27-3.

Despite threatening weather, Payson pitcher Tyson Memmott was nearly flawless Tuesday as he blanked the Provo Bulldogs 5-0 in a complete-game shutout.