Learning to soar: Skyridge baseball building toward region, rolls at Mountain View
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- Skyridge players salute senior Max Johanson after he hit a home run Skyridge senior McKoy Morris slides safe into third base during the non-region game against Mountain View in Orem on Tuesday, March 25, 2025.
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- Skyridge players celebrate with senior Max Johanson (center) after he hit a home run Skyridge senior McKoy Morris slides safe into third base during the non-region game against Mountain View in Orem on Tuesday, March 25, 2025.
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- Skyridge senior McKoy Morris slides safe into third base during the non-region game against Mountain View in Orem on Tuesday, March 25, 2025.
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- Skyridge sophomore Cohen Plewe throws a pitch Skyridge senior McKoy Morris slides safe into third base during the non-region game against Mountain View in Orem on Tuesday, March 25, 2025.
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- Skyridge senior Lincoln Zinn slides safe into home during the non-region game against Mountain View in Orem on Tuesday, March 25, 2025.
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- Mountain View players talk things over during the non-region game against Skyridge in Orem on Tuesday, March 25, 2025.
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- Mountain View junior Caden Imes throws a pitch during the non-region game against Skyridge in Orem on Tuesday, March 25, 2025.
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- Skyridge senior McKoy Morris jokes around with the dugout during the non-region game against Mountain View in Orem on Tuesday, March 25, 2025.
When a Skyridge pitcher toes the rubber, much of the time they are looking to Falcon senior catcher Max Johanson to call the pitch instead of the the dugout like many teams do.
That puts extra pressure on Johanson but he said he feels like it makes a difference.
“I think it’s pretty cool to kind of create more of a connection with the pitcher,” Johanson said. “It keeps us all in the game, which is nice. You can kind of feel how the game is going as a catcher, so you can work with your pitcher on what pitches are going to be effective.”
While calling the pitch to get that big strikeout is always satisfying, sometimes the batter makes a play as well.
“It just feels good when the pitcher makes his pitch right and you get that strikeout,” Johanson said. “If the batter hammers it, though, you start thinking about whether that was the right pitch or whether the pitcher executed it.”
Skyridge head coach Ryan Roberts said that having a savvy veteran like Johanson in that role shows how much the team trusts Johanson’s leadership.
“He controls the pitching staff so well and he controls the defense so well,” Roberts said.
He also noted that Johanson has had one of the better years at the plate for the Falcons, which makes him even more valuable.
That part of the Skyridge senior’s game was on display in Tuesday’s 17-4 win at Mountain View as Johanson crushed a 3-run home run as part of an 11-run third inning.
“That felt good,” Johanson said with a grin. “That was a good barrel.
He explained that hitting well was one of the objectives the team had for the game against the Bruins and he thought they did pretty well.
“We kind of knew how we wanted to play and kept our level of baseball up,” Johanson said. “We wanted to put the barrel (of the bat) on the ball and score runs, which we did.”
Roberts, who was forced to watch from outside the park on Tuesday due to a pitch-count violation suspension, said he saw good things overall from his team.
“I really liked what we did at the plate,” Roberts said. “We got some balls in the gap, which is something we’ve been trying to get guys to figure out a little bit.
Skyridge has had a solid start to the 2025 season, going 5-2 with a couple of losses to gifted pitchers for Dixie and Bingham.
“We’ve actually pitched it really well and we’re throwing a lot of strikes, so that’s a big positive,” Roberts said. The only game we haven’t thrown strikes was the game against Dixie and we didn’t swing it good enough to win that game anyway. But we had a chance to win at Bingham.
“We’re rolling along pretty good. I like how our bats are coming along. Our kids practice hard and play hard. They are trying to learn as much as they can and they are a joy to be around.”
Johanson said he feels like the team is playing well, particularly when they lock in and focus, but there are still things to improve on.
“We need to step on the gas and keep going hard, keep working harder instead of laying off,” Johanson said. “There are so few games in a season that we need to go now.”
Roberts said the Falcons will play two more games this week before spring break to get the feel of a full week.
“We are going to see how are pitching depth handles having multiple games back-to-back, kind of like what the state tournament will be like,” Roberts said. “The biggest thing I want to see them develop is their competitive nature. We challenged our guys to have no strikeouts today and with two strikes to foul things off. We didn’t do that but it’s something we’ll build on and keep getting better at.”
Skyridge will next host Wasatch on Wednesday, while Mountain View heads to Roy the same afternoon.
Both games are scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m.
