No. 1 seed Maple Mountain toys with Skyline, moves on to 5A bracket play
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- Maple Mountain’s Jeremiah Hall (22) is greeted by his teammates after hitting a home run in a 5A baseball state Super Regional game against Skyline on Thursday, May 15, 2025.
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- Maple Mountain’s Lincoln Beenfield throws to first base in a 5A state Super Regional game against Skyline on Thursday, May 15, 2025.
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- Maple Mountain’s A.J. Thomas slides safely into second base during a 5A state Super Regional game against Skyline on Thursday, May 15, 2025.
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- Maple Mountain’s Jeremiah Hall throws a pitch against Skyline in a 5A baseball state Super Regional game on Thursday, May 15, 2025.
Sometimes playing an unexpected extra inning can be a lot of fun, And Maple Mountain did just that in a way when they beat Skyline 17-1 Thursday to clinch the best-of-three series in the 5A Super Regional.
Though the top-seeded Golden Eagles hosted the series, Skyline was deemed the home team in the second game. And with Maple Mountain leading 10-0 going into the bottom of the fifth inning, Skyline scratched out a run which meant the game would continue.
No worries for the 5A defending state champions as Maple Mountain just had a bit more fun scoring seven runs in the top of the sixth. Sawyer Leifson then was able to come in and pitch the bottom of the sixth and struck out the side to eliminate Skyline.
One of those players that benefitted from an extra at bat was Reece Johnson, who blasted a three-run homer over the left field fence.
“I always want another at bat,” Johnson said smiling then repeating, “I always want another at bat and it worked out well.”
Johnson had a sparkling game overall, adding a double and a walk.
Maple Mountain (26-1) showed it is a well-rounded team. Skyline didn’t want anything to do with Golden Eagle star Cy Chrisman, intentionally walking the state home run record holder twice. It was totally understandable that Skyline avoided pitching to Chrisman because in Wednesday’s game, the Golden Eagle slugger hit two bombs and had seven RBI as Maple Mountain prevailed 11-1.
But it still didn’t matter as Maple Mountain still had way too much firepower.
“When you have a big bat in the line-up like Cy (Chrisman), you always need to find guys that can protect him and step up when that happens,” Maple Mountain head coach Jeremy Thomas said.
Thomas also knows that his team is doing the necessary things to bring home another gold trophy for the program.
“We’re extremely excited. Our pitchers are throwing a lot of strikes, defense is playing well and obviously as you can see here, our hitting has come alive,” Thomas said. “We’ve preached all year long to get better every day and we’re seeing a gradual improvement as we go along.”
Thomas didn’t even mind when Skyline extended the game because it allowed him to play more players and use an additional pitcher in Leifson.
“They did want to hit and we needed to see some arms in games,” Thomas said. “We’ve been hitting so well in the past four or five games we’ve only been getting about five innings in, so our starting pitchers are keeping a low pitch count, but we need to get our relievers some innings.”
“When you have a closer like that (in Leifson) that you’re not having to use that often because of not many save situations, we try to find innings for him and he’s got to treat it like a save situation, and he did that today,” added Thomas.
The 5A tournament will go to bracket play on Monday and the Golden Eagles will host the winner of the series between No. 9 seed Viewmont vs. No. 8 Murray. That game will take place Monday at 4:30 pm at BYU.
Thomas, a former assistant coach at BYU, remarked that returning to Larry H. Miller Field will be a lot of fun.
“There’s always a lot of good memories when I go back there,” stated Thomas. “I still know a lot of the coaching staff there and a lot of the administration and stuff. When you go back there, there is a special feeling about playing there.”
Thomas’s son AJ, who plays catcher and had a triple and four RBI Thursday, concurred with his father about having the opportunity to play at BYU.
“It’s a beautiful field and to play where the college players play is absolutely amazing”, AJ Thomas said.
Another big star for Maple Mountain on Thursday was freshman Jeremiah Hall, who got the win on the mound innings while also belting a home run. And he’s also excited to head to BYU for some games.
“I’m pumped, it’ll be a great experience,” said Hall.
5A State Tournament
No.19 Salem Hills pulled off a big upset in the 5A tournament as the Skyhawks eliminated No. 3 West Jordan, sweeping the Jaguars in its best-of-three series.
After slipping past West Jordan in its first game Wednesday 2-1 thanks to a heroic performance on the mound by Dom Jex, Salem Hills defeated West Jordan 8-5 on Thursday. Kaleb Degraffenreid homered and had two RBI to lead the Skyhawks, who will now play No. 6 seed Orem in bracket play. The Tigers swept No. 11 Jordan in their Super Regional matchup.
In its sweep of the Beetdiggers, Orem got a strong performance from Blake Brotherson on the mound to win Game 1, 5-1. The Tiger hurler struck out five and gave up just three hits.
Then in the second game, Orem’s offense was too much to handle as Merrick Bostock belted two homers and had four RBI while Tayden Ka’awa went yard as well and had three runs batted in for the Tigers. Kai Wesley got the win on the mound in Game 2 with four strikeouts.
Region 7 continued to show its strength as No. 20 Spanish Fork swept No. 4 Alta in another huge upset. The Dons trailed 4-0 before scoring seven runs in the fifth and sixth innings to win 7-4 Thursday. Jackie Sorenson had a triple and four RBI while Sammy Dart plated two.
The Dons will now take on No. 5 seed Cyprus, which needed a third game to eliminate No. 12 Wasatch.
6A State Tournament
Region 3 generally flexed its muscles again in the Super Regional portion of the state tournament.
No. 1 seed American Fork scored in all but one inning in shutting out No. 17 Farmington 8-0 Thursday to sweep the series. Crew Ingersoll had two doubles and two RBI to pace the Caveman attack. CJ Mascaro had a HR and two RBI as American Fork defeated the Phoenix on Wednesday, 11-1. American Fork will now play No. 9 seed Bingham in bracket play at UVU’s UCCU Ballpark. The Miners eliminated No. 8 Skyridge by defeating the Falcons twice on Thursday 9-4, 7-4.
No. 2 seed Pleasant Grove also swept its way into bracketed play with a 10-0 win on Thursday to go along with a 7-3 win on Wednesday. In Thursday’s game, one that ended early due to the 10-run rule, RJ Wilson had a home run, a double and four RBI. Nash Bennett, Mason Hawk Henry, and Drew Smith also went yard for the Vikings. Pleasant Grove will now tangle with the winner of the Lehi-Corner Canyon series.
No. 10 Lehi did win the first game of its series vs. No. 7 seed Corner Canyon, 6-2. With the score tied 2-2, the Pioneers blew the game open with four runs in the top of the sixth. Dawson Brown homered and tripled for the Pioneers.
Lone Peak won the first game in its series with Riverton 3-2 on Wednesday but the Silverwolves bounced back to eliminate the Knights winning the second and third games of the series 10-6, 11-4 respectively. Bo Barnes did go yard and added a double for the Knights in the second game.
