Devil baseball overcomes eight-run deficit in last innning

Junior Tyler Mortensen prepares for a pitch at a playoff game. (S. Prewett)

By Meseret Carver,
BlueDevilHUB.com Editor–

Davis High’s varsity baseball defeated Granite Bay 14-13 in the last inning of an emotional game.

The Blue Devils were down 5-0 in the first inning as Granite Bay, who batted first, made run after run. The Devils scored only one run in the first inning but they were feeling optimistic.

“We definitely did not feel defeated at that point because we knew that we could score a lot of runs and our offense is really good,” junior Reed Hessl said.

As the teams battled on the field, DHS still lagged behind by a couple of runs but began to claw back one at a time.

“My mood– personally– went from thinking, this is going to be the last baseball game I play in a Davis uniform, to [getting] a few runs, [gaining] momentum,” senior Griffin Duisenberg said.

Then the last inning came around. DHS was behind 5-13 but they were not giving up. When it came time to bat, the Devils slowly racked up a few more runs.

“Stuff just started to go our way. The ball started to drop, we hit a couple balls hard. It was honestly the best scenario,” Duisenberg added.

Hessl hit a double that would be the beginning of a scoring spree for Davis. His teammates then followed his example by sneaking up behind Granite Bay with five more runs.

At 10-13, senior Ian McIsaac hit a triple for DHS, with Hessl on second and senior Tyler Gibson on third, bringing the score to 12-13. Immediately after, senior John Lagattuta kept the excitement going with a single, bringing another Blue Devil back to the home plate and tying the game 13-all.

This was the second time the two teams came head to head this season and anticipation was high. Granite Bay had won in an extra inning last time- but that would not prove to be the case today.

With two outs in the last inning, junior Jack Painter stepped up to home plate to bat as Lagattuta waited for a chance to run on second base. Painter then batted a double, bringing Lagattuta home. Davis took the win 14-13.

“It was really satisfying for us to come back and beat them after a tough game before that,” Hessl said.

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