BEAR RIVER HIGH – By Justus Wise, Headliner Sports Editor, March 17, 2022
The Bear River High School baseball team headed south to the land of red rocks and retirees to battle it out in their first tournament of the 2022 season, March 11-12. The Bears showed everyone how it’s done in northern Utah as they played tough and went 3-1 on the weekend.
The Bears started the weekend off with a bang jumping ahead of the Cedar City High Reds, 6-0, in the first three innings on Friday. Although Cedar City scored three runs in the subsequent innings, the Bears held their lead and crushed the Reds 9-3. Senior Hunter Harrow gave up just three hits over five innings on the plate while striking out six.
Unfortunately, the Bears’ one and only loss was delivered by the small, soft hands of the Box Elder High Bees in a depressing comeback.
The Bears, filled with swagger after two dominating wins in a row, ran the score up early on Box Elder with nine runs in the second inning alone. After scoring an additional run and sitting on top with 10 runs, the Bees began a comeback that saw them score seven unanswered runs in three innings. Despite scoring five runs in the last inning, the Bears would fall to the Bees 16-15.
The Bears were fueled by the loss to the Bees and they took out their frustration on the Maple Mountain High Golden Eagles by scoring five runs in the first two innings. The Bears played solid defense until the fifth inning when the Golden Eagles scored four runs. This, however, would prove to be too little too late. The Bears would win 6-4.
“I thought our ball club played very well minus a couple of innings in one game. Those innings hurt us, but I was really impressed with our grit and resiliency in the next two ball games. The team responded very well and played as a team. We got a lot of young guys some valuable time in some big-time moments, and they stepped in and helped us out,” said Bear River High head baseball coach Donald Hawes.
Next up for the Bear River High baseball team is their first home game of the season as they host Tooele High on Thursday, March 17, with varsity set to begin at 3:30 p.m. The Bears will travel to Pocatello High School in Idaho on March 18.
