By Josh McFadden | [email protected]

Score a win for the Bingham baseball team over COVID-19.

After the pandemic wiped out the high school baseball season, along with all other spring sports, it looked as though senior athletes all over Utah would never get to represent their schools again. 

During the final week of May and first week of June, 18 prep baseball teams took to the diamond again in the Last Chance Baseball Tournament. Though the Utah High School Activities Association didn’t sponsor or sanction the tournament, the games were meaningful to those who took part. Bingham was among the participants, as the Miners got back in action after a more than two-month hiatus.

The coronavirus may have halted the official season, but the Miners and their nine seniors made the most of their return to play. 

Eight class 6A teams participated in the tournament, which began May 29 with pool play. The Miners faced three other teams in a round-robin format before advancing to the double-elimination championship bracket. In its pool, Bingham went 2-1, defeating Jordan (6-4) and American Fork (9-3), while losing to Riverton (9-8).

In the championship bracket, the Miners scored a big win over Pleasant Grove, 12-1, on June 2. Bingham advanced to the next round where it had a rematch with American Fork on June 3. Unfortunately for the Miners, this game didn’t go nearly as well as the previous meeting. American Fork pounded Bingham 15-1, sending the Miners to the one-loss bracket. 

After dispatching Syracuse, Bingham narrowly lost to Copper Hills in extra innings, 3-2, knocking the team out of the tournament. 

Bingham played just one game in the 2020 season before the UHSAA suspended play for two weeks. That decision then expanded to a May 1 return to action before the governing body announced a season cancelation. In its lone official game, Bingham lost to Spanish Fork by the score of 4-3. 

While there is still some uncertainty about what the 2020–21 school year will look like and whether sports will return in their full capacity, the Miners look tough on paper for next season. This past season’s roster listed nearly 30 underclassmen