High school baseball: Panguitch ends 11-year drought, claims 1A state championship over Piute

The No. 1 seed Panguitch Bobcats beat the Piute Thunderbirds 13-3 on Saturday in the 1A state baseball championship game.

The Bobcats’ first championship in 11 years came after a dominant playoff run that included wins of 12-0, 11-1, and 13-3.

After gaining a 5-1 lead in the first inning Saturday, the Bobcats’ defense held Piute scoreless for three innings in a row. Piute showed life in the top of the fifth inning after a Panguitch error gave up a run, but Panguitch immediately scored four more runs in the bottom of the fifth inning and one more run in the sixth to seal the championship.

After losing in the semifinals last year, coach Rawley Burningham knew this season might be different.

”Things were different from Day 1,” he said. “That’s because of defense. 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.”

Burningham undersold just how impressive the Panguitch defense has been. You have to go back to August 30 to find the last time the Bobcats gave up more than five runs.

Piute had 13 games in which they didn’t give up a single run, led by dominant pitchers. Junior Quade Veater led the Bobcats with an incredible 0.54 ERA, while Daxton Miller also had a phenomenal season, ending the year with an ERA of 0.72.

”I played in a lot of these, and this is the first one (I won). Not a better group of kids I would pick to do it with, a group of kids that fought and worked their tails off,” Burningham said. “Getting beat in the semis last year and then (losing) back-to-back in the state championship, so it really comes down to those guys really fighting.”

In a tournament in which Panguitch scored 39 runs, Burningham refused to name just one MVP.

”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 said. “We had a huge tournament from our shortstop, Maddix Johnson. He hit the crap out of the baseball and played great defense.”

Johnson continued his impressive tournament by stepping up to the plate four times Saturday and tallying two hits and scoring four runs.

Miller pitched all six innings on Saturday, striking out nine. Miller, Remme Chappell and Camden Englestead led the Bobcats’ offense with three hits each.

This championship game was particularly special for Burningham, an alumnus of Panguitch High. Although he didn’t win a championship as a player, with tears in his eyes, he described why Saturday’s game meant so much to him:

”I want to touch on this: Panguitch High School has had very few coaches (in its history). Two of them are in the stands; I played for them. Now, I’m coaching one of their grandsons and one of their sons,” he said. “It’s really special to have those two in the stands. Coaching their son and their grandson, that’s very special to me.”

In truth, this championship seems special for all 1,785 people in Panguitch, many of whom made the three-and-a-half hour drive to see their Bobcats win the state championship.