Nick Mackay’s third-inning grand slam helped Tooele score seven runs in one inning Monday afternoon at the Cal Ripken Utah state all-star tournament for players 12 years and under. Tooele then held on to defeat Highland of Utah County 9-8 to advance to the semi-final game today at 1:30 p.m.

Tooele is 3-0 in the tournament which it is hosting at Paker’s Park. Tooele won its first two games of the tourney easily over teams from Utah County 25-1 and 10-0.

The big third inning gave Tooele a 7-2 advantage and with two more runs in the fifth Tooele jumped out to a 9-3 lead. But Highland added two runs in its half of the fifth to make it 9-5.

Highland was the home team for this game which tightened up in the final inning. Utah County’s top all-star team sliced the lead to 9-7 with a two-run base hit to center field. But Tooele center fielder Justin Boucher gunned down the runner at second base for the second out of the inning.

Highland still was able to cut the lead to 9-8 with two outs on back-to-back hits. With the tying runner at third base and the go-ahead runner at first base, Tooele pitcher Jackson Clausing was able to get a strike out to end the game.

If Tooele wins today against Richfield it will play at 4:45 p.m. on Wednesday. If Tooele loses its first game today it will play another game tonight at 7:30. The tournament is a double elimination event with the top two teams qualifying for a regional tournament in Nephi against all-stars from Arizona, Nevada and Hawaii.

No Tooele players reached the base paths in the first two innings while Highland opened the game with two runs in the opening stanza to make it 2-0 Highland after two innings.

Tooele’s seven-run third inning started when Boucher reached on an error followed by a double from Trey Osterud. Alex Mackay singled home Boucher for Tooele’s first run and then Clausing singled home Osterud to tie the game at 2-2 with one out. Josh Crane drilled a base hit to bring in Alex Mackay and give Tooele a 3-2 advantage. Nick Mackay then lined the ball over the left center field fence with Justin Pollmann on board at third, Clausing on second and Crane on first. The four-run blast pushed Tooele’s lead to 7-2.

Highland added a run in the fourth to make it 7-3, but Tooele added two in the fifth.

Jarrett Anderson smacked a double and came home on a double by Nick Mackay. Boucher then ripped a single to bring in Anderson to make it 9-3.

Highland cut it to 9-5 with a pair of runs in the fifth, and added three sixth-inning runs to make it 9-8 before Clausing was able to end the game with a strike out.

Stansbury Park was eliminated from the tournament with a loss on Saturday.

mwatson@tooeletranscript.com