Salem Hills baseball wins pitchers’ duel to beat Spanish Fork in 5A super-regionals
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- Salem Hills pitcher Dagen Gammell throws a pitch during the 5A playoff game against Spanish Fork in Salem on Friday, May 17, 2024.
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- Salem Hills players celebrate after winning the 5A playoff game against Spanish Fork in Salem on Friday, May 17, 2024.
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- Spanish Fork players stand in front of the scoreboard after the 5A playoff game against Spanish Fork in Salem on Friday, May 17, 2024.
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- Salem Hills senior Kason Averett hits a foul ball during the 5A playoff game against Spanish Fork in Salem on Friday, May 17, 2024.
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- A Salem Hills player hugs Spanish Fork senior Will Dart after the 5A playoff game against Spanish Fork in Salem on Friday, May 17, 2024.
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- A Salem Hills infielder catches a pop fly during the 5A playoff game against Spanish Fork in Salem on Friday, May 17, 2024.
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- Salem Hills first baseman Alex Cloward makes a putout during the 5A playoff game against Spanish Fork in Salem on Friday, May 17, 2024.
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- Spanish Fork freshman pitcher Sammy Dart throws a pitch during the 5A playoff game against Salem Hills in Salem on Friday, May 17, 2024.
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- Spanish Fork senior Will Dart hits the ball during the 5A playoff game against Salem Hills in Salem on Friday, May 17, 2024.
Less than 18 months ago Salem Hills senior pitcher Dagen Gammell went through the challenges of Tommy John surgery, requiring him to miss his junior year. Even this spring the Skyhawk coaching staff kept Gammell from throwing too hard too soon.
It wasn’t exactly easy for a competitor like Gammell.
“It was really tough,” Gammell said Friday. “It was really tough coming back. Just playing baseball again changed my life. With everything, it really changed me.”
Salem Hills head coach Scott Haney explained that they wanted to slowly get Gammell back into form, holding him back to start the year but finally getting him going at the end of region play.
“We finally turned him loose to throw 90 or more,” Haney said. “He worked really hard to get back. Today it paid off.”
The Skyhawks found themselves locked in a nail-biter of a pitchers’ duel against rival Spanish Fork in Game 2 of their 5A super-regional series with Gammell and Don freshman Sammy Dart piling up the outs.
“You’ve got to give Dart credit,” Haney said. “He threw strikes when he needed to and got some big strikeouts. But Gammell threw over 100 pitches and got strikeouts as well. I couldn’t be more proud of him.”
Salem Hills got a break in the bottom of the fourth to push a run across and that turned out to be the difference in the game as the Skyhawks held on to get the thrilling 1-0 win.
“It started off not how we wanted,” Gammell said. “Our bats weren’t alive today. The umpire was kind of squeezing me but it all came together and it worked out.”
Haney has been coaching high school baseball for more than three decades, so he’s seen a lot of these tight games.
He said that for many of those years he couldn’t stand to even watch some of the tense moments. Then he decided to watch more closely to see if there was something he could adjust as a coach.
But he still feels the nerves when the game is tight like that.
“I’m still pacing back and forth,” Haney said. “But even after 33 years as a head coach, I still get nervous every second.”
Gammell said that he knew any pitch, any mistake, could flip the entire game, but part of him likes that pressure.
“It’s nerve wracking, but it also brings out the best in you,” Gammell said. “It lets you have confidence. You’ve got to be able to trust your defense. Ultimately, what saved me was my defense.”
The only run of the game came on a play that could’ve gone either way.
Salem Hills had a runner on base when a long fly ball was hit to centerfield. The Spanish Fork centerfielder had a chance to make a great grab but ricocheted out, allowing the runner to score.
“I think it was a hit,” Haney said. “It was tailing away near the fence and just got away. It was huge.”
Spanish Fork head coach Hadley Thorpe said that even though it wasn’t an easy play, it’s one the Dons could’ve made.
“It was a 50-50 ball and our centerfielder is one of the best in the state,” Thorpe said. “He will go and catch that ball 99 times out of 100.”
Even though that play allowed the Skyhawks to score their only run, Thorpe liked how his squad stayed focused and kept giving themselves chances to win.
“Our mantra all year has been to battle right until the very end,” Thorpe said. “We hit a couple of balls hard. We had the right guys up and they put good swings on it. Sometimes in a baseball game you don’t get the bounces.”
The Dons had two baserunners on in the top of the sixth and the leadoff batter in the top of the seventh got on base as well, but Spanish Fork wasn’t able to cash in either time.
The end result was that the Skyhawks got the win to complete the two-game sweep of the series and the Dons saw their season come to a close.
“I want to thank all 11 of our seniors,” Thorpe said. “They did exactly what we asked of them and laid the foundation for what we are trying to build, what we are trying to add to the Spanish Fork legacy. We have a lot of good young players, so the future is bright, but I wish we could’ve given the seniors a deeper run in the playoffs.”
Salem Hills advances to 5A bracket play, where it will first face the winner of the super-regional between Box Elder and Viewmont.
That game is scheduled to take place on Monday at UVU starting at 1:30 p.m.
