| Chris Hatch waits on third for a runner after catching the ball during a home game in July. |
The Helper American Legion team had a long weekend full of games, winning against Judge on Friday, but being defeated in both games in the doubleheader on Saturday against Taylorsville.
Friday started off great for Helper, who had no problem scoring runs against the Judge team. Everyone had a chance to play and all hit exceptionally well, ending the game with a landslide win of 17-2.
Aaron Sandoval pitched a great game and was 2-2 while Chandler Pearson and Mike Zaccaria were 3-3 in the game.
Zaccaria and Trever Thompson both had doubles, while Chris Hatch had a triple and Joe Via had a home run.
This win brought Helper to 12-1 in their league and 18-2 in overall standings.
After completing a great game on Friday night, Helper went into Saturdays games looking pretty good for a win against the tough team of Taylorsville, but ended the day with two losses on their record.
Helper had some trouble getting runners on base with not a lot of hits being made. Both Hatch and Zaccaria did score doubles, but they weren’t enough to pull them out of a 5-4 loss.
Taylorsville didn’t have the same problem, 11 batters walked and four of their runs were from walks. By the end of the game, Helper had stranded a total of eight runners on base.
Adam Martinez started the game as pitcher, but in the fifth was replaced by Morgan Bates. Bates pitched great, only allowing one run.
Even though the second game started out great for Helper who scored four runs in th first inning, this game had the same ending for Helper as the first. A 13-7 win for Taylorsville gave Helper their second loss of the day and only their third league loss all year.
The fourth inning proved disappointing to Helper when Taylorsville scored eight runs on five hits and two errors.
Pearson started pitching but was removed during the fourth inning. Bates, Mike Smith and Brett Johnson all gave pitching a try as well.
Helper scored a run in the fifth on back to back hits and scored two more in the sixth on a walk, a double and a single.
Both Hatch and Thompson had a couple of hits each but it was nowhere near enough to pull them out of another disappointing loss.
These two devastating losses dropped Helper out of the number one slot in league standings, bringing Kearns Post to first and leaving Helper behind in second.
On Monday, Helper traveled to Hunter for yet another winning game against them, 4-3.
Even though Helper played a little sluggish after their two losses on Saturday, they played well enough to beat Hunter by one run.
Brett Johnson pitched and did a great job. He did walk one batter and allowed six hits and three runs but overall pitched well.
Travis Bettencourt and Hatch had multiple hits each. Hatch was 3-3 and Bettencourt 2-3.
Helper scored one run in the second inning on singles by Tyler Nelson and Mike Smith and a sacrifice fly by Bettencourt.
Hunter did scored one run in the second on a triple and a single and scored two more in the fourth on three hits and two errors.
Helper came back in during the fifth and scored another run on a single by Sandoval, a double by Hatch and a single by Pearson.
Helper finished scoring in the sixth inning with four walks and a single by Bettencourt.
Even with another win, Helper is still behind Kearns Post for second place in league standings. They are currently 13-3 in the league, one game behind Kearns Post.
After a final away game on Friday against Cyprus, they will be preparing for the state tournament in Kearns at Oquirrh Park that will begin on July 30 and play until August 6.