Park City baseball’s season comes to an end

Park City High School’s Braxton Lyon courses during the Miners matchup against Salem Hills on April 5th. The Miners were kicked out of the playoffs on the Monday after their first full season in Class 5A.
Park Record File Photo

Park City’s first full season in Class 5A did not go smoothly.

Miners went down from 29-7 in the region to 37-19 during their two years in Class 4A, but the biennial realignment of the Utah High School Athletics Association got them into Class 5A after the 2019 season.

After the pandemic abruptly stalled a 4-3 start in 2020, the miners were eager to prove themselves in their still-new classification.

But the mounting pain was too much for Park City, whose season ended Monday night with a heartbreaking 5-6 defeat in the second round of the state tournament. The miners finished the 9-19 season, including a 2-12 league game record.

“It’s crazy different,” said Park City coach David Feasler of the impact on the classification. “You know that you play a competitive game every day. And if you’re in the 4A region – I’m sure I’m not going to name schools – but about half your games are throw-in games and you win by 15. It wasn’t competitive every day. ”

The miners started on the right foot as a three-game winning streak improved their record to 6-3. But an 8-2 loss to Bountiful in late March was the first of nine straight defeats for Park City. The miners went a month without a win.

Park City’s two wins in Region 8 came against Payson and Provo, and it was the 5-2 win over Provo that Feasler saw as the team’s highlight that season.

“We are linked to seventh place and then we did very well at home. In the seventh run we have a triple home run to win it 5-2,” said Feasler. “It was a pretty hot game, but that’s the game that turns out to be a good team win and highlight.”

The win also gave the Miners’ RPI a much-needed boost into the playoffs. Park City was the 22nd team in Class 5A and had a matchup with all winners against No. 27 East in the opening round on May 14th. The Miners kept their season alive with a 15-5 mercy win Rich in a best-of-three series.

Game 1 on May 15 did not go to Park City. Bountiful scored five runs for an easy 7-2 win in the first two innings.

“We came out pretty flat,” said Feasler. “We gave up our big inning early, fell behind, then came back 5-2 and ended up losing 7-2. That was a tough question. “

A win against Bountiful in Game 2 on Monday would have kept the miners’ season alive. Park City were 3-1 through five innings and scored four runs in the sixth round to take a 5-3 lead. But the miners blew the lead at the end of seventh place when the Braves completed three runs to end Park City’s season.

“The energy on Monday was just so much different,” said Feasler. “It was a competition on every field, a lot of back and forth in the game, we end up on the wrong side. But as I said, the only thing I didn’t like on Monday was the bottom line. “

Despite the record, Feasler sees this season as a positive step for his team in the years to come as it looks to gain a foothold in Class 5A. Homerun leader Ryan Hunt is graduating with senior pitchers Nick Stokes and Charlie Morris, but the Miners have had several underclassmen who have made an impact this year. Sophomore Braxton Lyon hit .452 that season, and five underclassmen had at least 40 bats.

“In the field, our freshmen and second grade students had the experience and got a taste of this year,” he said. “And in the future it will just grow, grow, grow. I think experience is still valuable to the younger guys in the long run and the senior class did a really good job of leading the way. “

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