The 2024 state baseball tournament on October 10-12 at Kearns High School was an extremely close battle between three very competent teams: Panguitch, Bryce Valley and Piute. In the end, Panguitch was the deserving victor.
Piute did not have a bad season, nor did Bryce Valley. Both teams lost only three region games, twice to Panguitch and once to each other. Some were really close games.
Panguitch, though, had a phenomenal season — they were undefeated.
Panguitch ended up as the number 1 seed, Bryce Valley the number 2, and Piute the number 4. So, of course the final three games came down to these three teams.
Both Deseret News and the Insider pointed out that Panguitch had a very impressive state run, with wins of 12-0, 11-1, and finally, 13-3. In that run, Panguitch also beat Bryce Valley 3-2 in the semifinals in one of the closest games of the entire tournament. This game was truly the test of Panguitch’s skill for defense, which they showed a few times throughout the season.
If Panguitch couldn’t score, neither could their opponent, and that’s what made things different from any other state run. “That’s because of defense,” Coach Rawley Burningham told Deseret News. “I knew that we had the best defense (in the state). I think in the last 10, maybe seven weeks, we’re 10-0 and given up under 10 runs in 10 games.”
Panguitch has had some close games throughout the season, but they have always come out on top. That held true for the state tournament.
“We have maybe one of the best pitcher-catcher combos that I’ve ever had with Miller and Veater, but at the end of the day, our defense wins that championship,” Burningham continued. “We had a huge tournament from our shortstop, Maddix Johnson. He hit the crap out of the baseball and played great defense.”
Meanwhile, on the other side of the bracket, Piute had to fight their way to meet Panguitch back on top.
Despite an impressive history for winning state baseball, Piute was very much overlooked coming into the state tournament. Even Piute’s players thought that as the number 4 seed, the likelihood of their making it into the final round was low.
“My expectations going into state were kinda wary,” said Blake Dalton, a junior and team captain for the T-Birds. “I didn’t expect us to make it as far as we did, but I had faith we could do it.”
When Panguitch beat Piute in the quarterfinals, said Brodee Montague, another junior on the team, “we didn’t hang our heads. We forgot about it and looked forward to the next game.”
That night, sophomore Bodie Gayler hit a home run on the first pitch versus Valley. They ended up winning that game 11-1, followed by another 5-1 win against Bryce Valley. In the end, it was Panguitch against Piute, again.
Both boys felt they could have played better against Panguitch. “I thought we could’ve stuck with Panguitch better,” said Blake. “We tried our best, but sometimes you come up short.”
Of course, baseball is not always about winning the championship. “A moment I will remember [from state baseball] is getting Raising Canes late at night,” said Brodee.
Blake was proud of the team for their perseverance. “We stayed strong throughout times of hardship and things worked out in the end,” said Blake. “We made it far and played our best. As Coach Barney would say, we were ‘gritty.’”
– by Abbie Call
Feature image caption: Panguitch senior Berkley Dalton up to bat in a home game against Wayne on August 28. Panguitch won 11-1.
Abbie Call – Cannonville/Kirksville, Missouri
Abbie Call is a journalist and editor at The Byway. She graduated in 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in editing and publishing from Brigham Young University. Her favorite topics to write about include anything local, Utah’s megadrought, and mental health and meaning in life. In her free time, she enjoys reading, hanging out with family, quilting and hiking.
Find Abbie on Threads @abbieb.call or contact her at [email protected].