By Johnny Sanders, Sports Editor
ALEXANDRIA – The 2024 edition of the Springville Tigers baseball team will go down as one of Jonathan Ford’s best. The bad news for other 5A teams is that the Tigers graduate just one player, team leader Tanner Oakes, and will be just as good next year, if not even better.
Ford has been at Springville since 2007. He has won eight area championships along with an elite eight appearance in 2017 and a state championship in 2018, Ford’s best team in his tenure, which went 34-7 on the season.
2024’s team resembled that elite eight team, winning 29 games (the 2017 team went 24-13) and making a deep playoff run. If history is any indication, 2025 could be quite the year for the Tigers.
But, 2024 was not that year for these boys, despite the success. On Tuesday, the Tigers met the Alexandria Valley Cubs, who is made up mostly of seniors.
“We knew going in that Alexandria was really good,” said Ford. “They have 15 seniors and some really good arms. We felt like we would have a good chance to win if we played our best. Unfortunately, we did not do that last night. We made some mistakes early that cost us and then some momentum that we were not able to squelch.”
In game one against Alexandria, the Tigers fell 8-1 in a game that saw Alexandria consistently score throughout. The Valley Cub pitching held Springville to just three hits total while getting 10 hits for themselves.
Game two would be similar as the Valley Cubs would get the win in five innings by a score of 10-0. A seven-run fifth inning is what would end the game. Springville had another three-hit game with no runs and Alexandria put up their 10 runs on eight hits.
The Tigers’ season ended on Tuesday night with an impressive 29-11 record, and the future certainly looks bright for Coach Ford and his Springville baseball team.
“I told the guys that one bad day cannot take away from an outstanding season,” said Ford. “These guys have battled and competed all year and deserved to be where they were. We only had one senior, Tanner Oakes, who was a great leader all season. He will be missed but we have a very strong group returning and hope to be able to make a run again next year. But, we know it will take a lot of hard work to get there!”
With names like Carter Samuelson, Alex Holland, Grant Martinez, Jake Conner, Kade Willis and others returning, this team could be tough to deal with in 2025.