Opportunity knocks for Utah high school senior

FRUITLAND

When opportunities were presented, Harley Yazzie took them.

When he was a sophomore at Bingham High School in Utah, a coach told him he had the potential to be a starting pitcher for the baseball team, so he put in the work and went for it.

That was the start of a string of opportunities that Yazzie, now a senior, would eventually take with little hesitation.

“My coach said that I could be probably be a starting pitcher as a junior,” Yazzie said. “After that I felt that I had an opportunity. I just had an opportunity to do something with baseball.”

That opportunity led him to becoming a starting left-handed pitcher as a junior and now as a senior. It also led him to become a part of a 5A state runner-up team last season and now he is in the middle of leading the team through the state tournament. The Miners faced Cottonwood on Wednesday in an elimination game. Results were not available by deadline.

Opportunity has also led him to play college baseball at South Mountain Community College in Phoenix, Ariz., this coming year. He will sign his letter of intent this summer.

Yazzie’s mother Ranelle Yazzie said recognizing and seizing opportunities is just one of her son’s many traits.

She said his hard work and determination allowed him such opportunities.

“I feel like Harley beat beyond what was expected of him coming into the baseball program,” she said. “He understood what was expected and he adjusted to that expectation.”

Like many in his shoes, Yazzie started out playing T-ball. He moved up in the sport but decided not to play his eighth grade year.

His freshman and sophomore years he was a three-sport athlete in basketball, baseball and football. He made the varsity football and baseball teams as a sophomore.

After two years, his baseball coach saw how talented Yazzie was and he started to rethink his priorities.

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