BRIAN WOLFER, Special to the Standard-Examiner

Wally Grant plays first base like a shortstop.

He’s done it since ninth grade when Grant broke the mold and earned a starting spot on Davis coach Josh Godfrey’s roster.

Two years down the road, the “not-your-prototypical first baseman,” as Godfrey puts it, now plays a key role in bringing Davis baseball back into the conversation following a 22-7 finish as Region 1 champions in the program’s first winning season since 2019.

“I was blown away that a ninth grader, when he came into my program, could a pick a ball like he does,” Godfrey said. “There were some things character-wise, being able to relate to all different types of players on our team, and that’s why we made him our captain.”

If the Darts, which haven’t hung a state baseball banner since 1977, plan on furthering their state title contender status next season, they might just have their guy to lead the way.

BRIAN WOLFER, Special to the Standard-Examiner

Wally Grant is the 2024 Standard-Examiner All-Area Baseball Player of the Year.

Davis largely improved from its 12-18 effort a year ago, clearing Super Regionals for a seat in bracket play at BYU in late May. One run separated No. 2 seed Davis, falling 6-5 to No. 3 seed Mountian Ridge, from the semifinal round.

Grant crossed off a personal goal in pushing his teammates into Provo.

“That’s one of the highlights of the season, for me,” Grant said. “I know we didn’t have the hardest strength of schedule but 20 wins is 20 wins … It’s crazy that I’m a senior next year and crazy how time passes, but I feel like there’s still a ceiling.”

One piece to the puzzle was Godfrey’s team book, “Fire Lighters 365,” a collection of daily messages assembled by longtime strength and conditioning coach Lew Caralla. Godfrey wanted to answer the question of “how you, vocally, can be a leader without coming across (as) pretentious.”

BRIAN WOLFER, Special to the Standard-Examiner

The book, no matter how good of a read, couldn’t have predicted Grant’s team-best 1.45 ERA or .360 batting average. In Grant’s view, the preseason literature instead prepared Davis for several roadblocks.

The contribution had nothing (yet everything) to do with baseball.

“We had some team problems going on throughout the year and I think that book helped us persevere through those tough times with attitudes,” Grant said. “That was just a great opportunity for us to learn through that book and apply it to our lives, our game plan and ultimately our team.”

But some examples can’t be set through ink alone.

Grant carries a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage for a reason: reliability. It’s earned his position the “Bermuda Triangle” moniker, meaning any ball hit between three infielders — primarily starting infielders Kaleb Weaver (.932 fielding percentage), Jaxon Marble (.821) and Max Hunter (.912) — has zero chance of blowing past the third-year starter’s glove.

Simply put, Grant’s become something of a defensive backbone for the Darts.

“That’s the biggest stride we’ve seen out of Wally and we expect next year, as our senior captain … to continue to lead vocally the right way,” Godfrey said. “There’s a right way and a wrong way, and that’s the big stride he took.”

Assuming Grant keeps playing his brand of first base, there’s no telling where Davis may finish next spring.

Connect with prep sports reporter Conner Becker via email at cbecker@standard.net and X @ctbecker.

Newsletter