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Soffe’s pitching, Wallick’s hitting carry Bingham to Class 6A baseball title

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Buddy Young makes a sliding catch for Riverton, in 6A state baseball State Championship game, at UVU in Orem, Friday, May 25, 2018.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Buddy Young makes a sliding catch for Riverton, in 6A state baseball State Championship game, at UVU in Orem, Friday, May 25, 2018.

Orem • Bingham’s powerful offense had gone more than nine innings Friday without scoring against Riverton. Noah Wallick radically altered that picture with one swing.

The Miners’ 22nd baseball state championship over an 85-year period will be remembered mostly for Derek Soffe’s pitching shutout and Wallick’s wallop — a three-run homer that launched Bingham toward a 9-0 victory over Riverton at Utah Valley University.

Riverton had forced a true championship game in the double-elimination tournament with a 7-0 win earlier Friday.

Bingham responded well to what longtime coach Joey Sato labeled an “uncharacteristic” showing in the first game. That’s fair to say, considering the Miners totaled 58 runs in their other five tournament games.

Riverton’s Kody Nelson gave up two hits and struck out nine in 5 1/3 innings, then Zack Peterson got the last five outs in Game 1. Parker Applegate’s two-run single in the third inning was among several big hits for the Silverwolves, who played their way through the one-loss bracket and managed to extend the Utah High School Activities Association’s 2017-18 calendar for a few more hours.

The Miners knew they had earned the ability to absorb a loss Friday and still go home with a gold trophy. “That’s why we won the winners’ bracket,” Soffe said. “That put the pressure on them.”

Sato’s between-games message? This would be one last chance to play together, so “celebrate that,” he said, “and let’s have fun.”

The strategy worked. If the Miners were at all deflated after being blanked by Nelson and Peterson for 9 1/3 innings, they came to life after Wallick’s blast. The Silverwolves were not the same team after that moment in the third inning.

Peterson started the deciding game and was in command, until Wallick got a pitch over the middle of the plate and knocked it deep onto the left-field berm. “I’ve never hit a ball that hard in my life,” he said.

And the Silverwolves hit few balls sharply against Soffe all evening. The senior left-hander allowed five hits and one walk, while striking out nine in a seven-inning complete game. His strikeouts accounted for eight of the Riverton’s last 13 outs, including the final three.

“That is what you think about when you try out as a freshman,” Soffe said. “You want to be that guy, that day.”

Friday became another episode in Bingham’s storied tradition in the southwestern Salt Lake Valley, with the latest championship coming against one of the multiple schools that have been created in Bingham’s original territory in recent decades. Riverton opened in 1999; this was the Silverwolves’ first appearance in the baseball finals.

Sato’s first of five championships came in ’99. He’ll never catch the legendary Bailey Santistevan, who won 11 titles as the Miners’ coach, but Sato has done more than his part to maintain the Bingham baseball legacy.

The same is true of the Miners’ seniors, who produced their first championship. As Soffe said, “The tradition here is crazy.”

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Riverton's Gaige Morris reacts after the umpire called him out at second base, in 6A state baseball championship action between Riverton and Bingham, at UVU in Orem, Friday, May 25, 2018.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Riverton's Gaige Morris reacts after the umpire called him out at second base, in 6A state baseball championship action between Riverton and Bingham, at UVU in Orem, Friday, May 25, 2018.