Tribune photo by John Byrne - Spanish Springs Cal Ripken All-Stars coach Damon O'Connell talks with his team during a Monday scrimmage.
A 3-0 state run in the state tournament three weeks ago has landed Spanish Springs in a nice position heading into its regional tournament that will begin Thursday in Fallon.
“The kids played just great disciplined baseball,” Spanish Springs coach Damon O’Connell said on his team’s state championship title. “We had good pitching and good hitting.”
O’Connell said his team had the basic fundamentals down to win baseball games, on both defense and offense. To go along with strong pitching, Spanish Springs had timely hitting and was able to succeed in all facets of the game.
On Thursday, Spanish Springs kicks off the tournament against Silver State. In the state tournament, Spanish Springs dumped Silver State 12-2 in a first-round affair.
“We’re going to stay focused and play hard,” O’Connell said. “We won’t take anything for granted.”
In the regional tournament, there are a total of eight teams, four in each pool. Each team will play the other three in its pool once. The top three teams in each pool will combine into one double elimination bracket that begins on Sunday.
Spanish Springs will continue pool play on Friday at 5:30 p.m. against the host team, Fallon and then play on Saturday at 2 p.m. against North Utah. Spanish Springs beat Fallon in both of its two meetings this season. However, O’Connell said he has no familiarity with the squad out of Northern Utah.
“They’re excited,” O’Connell said of his team. “They are bored of practicing. They’re itching to go play.”
Spanish Springs will enter the tournament with a strong and healthy team. O’Connell said that his squad’s pitching is very strong. He hopes it will take them far into the tournament.
“We have five legitimate pitchers,” he said. “They all have experience pitching in travel baseball.”
The local squad also boasts tough defense. O’Connell said that his catcher, Josh Prizina, has the ability to throw out baserunners which will be important down the stretch.
“He probably threw out 75 percent of those who tried to steal (at state),” O’Connell said.
While all aspects of the Spanish Springs game look strong, O’Connell believes the team’s biggest challenge will be scoring enough runs to win. O’Connell said that some of the teams they could face out of California play year round, and have kids who can continue to hit.
“Offensively, we have a good balance between speed and consistent hitters,” O’Connell said. “We don’t strike out a lot. We take the count deep and draw walks. The kids have a good approach.”
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