Cramming so many games into such a tight window has taken its toll on the Cottonwood baseball team, said Athletic Director Greg Southwick, but the Colts are beginning to settle into a groove. That said, Southwick, who the City Journals featured in an interview, is adamant that the UHSAA make the process of qualifying for this year’s state tournament equal for all of its member schools. 

“With spring you’ve got those northern schools [in 5A Region 5], and some of them have only played eight or nine games and others have played 15…which affects the RPI,” said Southwick, who also coaches Cottonwood’s golf teams. 

Cottonwood [3-1 Region 7, 6-6] has had to play an unusual number of games [eight] in a very tight 10-day timeframe in mid-April. 

The Colts are hardly alone in that regard, but to give you an idea on how unique this season has been, Cottonwood had to play an all-day double-header at Cedar Valley to open the Region 7 season—rather than host one of those games due to the snow on April 7. 

That worked in the Colts favor in a 12-2 victory in game one. Junior Hayden Hudman went the distance and allowed two hits while striking out eight. It was the first time the Colts had played a game since March 18. 

It probably also gave Cedar Valley an unfair advantage in game two of that April 7 double-header, because instead of having a home game two days apart Cottonwood had to play back-to-back on enemy turf the same day, resulting in a more difficult 6-5 slugfest win. For the series, junior Keaton Stinson hit two home runs and drove in 7 RBI for Cottonwood. 

Against Uintah, however, the Colts had a home game but were forced to travel the three-and-a-half hours by bus in the middle of a school week. Cottonwood won at home in a 7-6 squeaker April 11 but lost at Uintah 6-2 after that long bus ride on April 13. 

In order to beef up that RPI that Southwick talked about, the Colts hosted Orem on April 14 and lost 15-4 in just five innings. 

Not even 24 hours later the Colts were welcoming in Woods Cross in another effort to boost that RPI on April 15. They lost 15-13 in a slugfest that lasted 11 innings and saw 24 hits and 10 errors by both teams. 

Cottonwood got back to Region 7 play on April 18 at Tooele. The Colts won 7-6 in another game that went to extra innings, and ended when Cottonwood scored a run in the top of the ninth. 

For the Colts, SLCC-bound senior Avery Doezie has led the way [12 RBI] along with fellow SLCC-bound senior Jaxon Pfeil [7 doubles] for Cottonwood. Doezie is tied with Stinson for the most home runs with two. 

Cottonwood is led by Chris Shelton, who is in his third year as head coach. 

By order of their jersey numbers, the 2023 Cottonwood baseball team is: 

John Pipe, Moises Gutierrez, Austin Carver, Robbie Jensen, Cameron Nielson, Payton Burk, Brighton Young, Avery Doezie, Hayden Hudman, Landon Wells, Oliver Wayman, Jordan Fallis, Angel Mavarez-Gonzalez, Ethan Wayment, Sam Clements, Vincent Smith, Easton Petitta, Logan Hunick, Easton Smith, Jaxon Pfeil, Daxton Sorensen, Keaton Stinson, Julian Sanderson and Hudson Burbank. λ