Class 3A baseball: Desert Hills pitcher helps own cause with game-winning homer

Orem • Two of southern Utah's most heated rivals battled it out on Thursday, leaving fans on the edge of their seats for all seven innings of the Class 3A baseball winners' bracket semifinal. In the end, it was Dylan File who pitched and hit Desert Hills to a 3-2 victory over Pine View.

"Just a heck of a game," said Desert Hills coach Jerry Beck. "Those are why you coach and why you play. I mean, there's nothing better than a state tournament [and] getting in a game like that. Both pitchers battled their butts off; it's too bad one team had to lose that one."

The Thunder's File and Panthers pitcher Dakota Donovan each went the distance, both giving up two earned runs. The Panthers outhit the Thunder 8-4, but File knew he could pitch to contact.

"All year, I've just been kind of throwing pitches and letting them hit it," File said. "My defense is a bunch of studs, so I just let them do the job."

With the game tied at two in the sixth, File launched a high fastball over the left-field wall. His home run would prove to be the game-winning hit, though it was not the end of the day's drama.

After the Panthers got a hit and a walk — putting the potential go-ahead run on — in the bottom of the seventh, Beck visited the mound to reassure his guy. He never had any thought of taking File out.

"We were going to ride that horse," Beck said. "I just wanted to remind him of how far he's come and this was his moment."

File then bore down, inducing a flyout then striking out the last batter of the game.

The victory held even more importance to File because his dad was in attendance.

"It was huge," he said. "My dad got to come down here. … He lives in Arizona, so that was even bigger that he got to watch that." —

Desert Hills 3, Pine View 2

R Desert Hills' Dylan File gets the complete game victory and hits the eventual game-winning home run. —

3A baseball

At Utah Valley University

Thursday

Winners' bracket semis

• Desert Hills, 3, Pine View 2

• Grantsville 11, Juan Diego 7

Friday

Winners' bracket final

• Desert Hills vs. Grantsville, 4:30 p.m. —

3A softball

At Spanish Fork Softball Complex

Thursday

Winners' bracket quarterfinals

• Grantsville 6, Payson 3

• Stansbury 5, Cedar City 0

• Uintah 7, Canyon View 1

• Juab 6, Tooele 3

Friday

Winners' bracket semis

• Grantsville vs. Stansbury, 11 a.m.

• Uintah vs. Juab, 11 a.m.

Winners' bracket final

• Semifinal winners, 3:30 p.m.