NIWOT — Third-ranked Mountain View softball beat Niwot in Class 4A action on Tuesday, 14-4.
Courtney Baeckel was 3-for-4 with four RBIs, Izzy Griego was 2-for-4 with three RBIs and Gianna Melaragno pitched all six innings for the Mountain Lions in the win.
ERIE — A 12-run fifth inning sparked Mountain View to a 17-8 win over Broomfield on softball on Saturday during the Erie Festival of Champions.
AURORA — Regis Jesuit topped Holy Family in softball on Thursday, 9-1.
ERIE — Celyn Whitt had three RBIs, Haley Smith struck out five over four innings, and Legacy beat Erie in softball on Thursday, 7-0.
ERIE — Grandview softball topped Union (Okla.) 6-5 on Friday in Erie’s tournament.
on Friday.
CASTLE ROCK — Lexi Kagan and Ashlyn Dzialo each had three RBIs as Castle View beat Cherry Creek 11-1 in softball on Wednesday.
Savannah Heebner pitched all five innings, and struck out 10 for the Sabercats. She allowed three hits and one earned run.
BROOMFIELD — In a matchup of last season’s Class 5A and 4A state softball champions, Wheat Ridge rallied to beat Legacy 11-7 on Tuesday.
Wheat Ridge, ranked No. 2 in the preseason 4A poll, scored eight runs in the top of the seventh to secure the win.
Analece Apodaca had a home run and four RBIs for Wheat Ridge, while Christina Nelson was 4-for-4 with a home run and three runs scored.
Riley Scott pitched five scoreless innings for the Farmers, and got the win. She allowed six hits.
Alyssa Geist had a home run in the loss for Legacy, ranked No. 1 in the 5A poll.
AURORA — No. 2 Legend led Grandview 2-0 after the fourth inning before a lightning delay ultimately led to the game being postponed to a later date.
WESTMINSTER — Arvada West sophomore Brittany Phillips was all business on the softball field Saturday morning as the Wildcats took on area rival Standley Lake.
Still, Phillips was able to breakaway from her focused look and flash a quick smile after a game-ending double play wrapped up a 16-4 victory for the Wildcats in five innings. Phillips picked up her first win on the mound this season pitching a complete game. She gave up four runs off six hits on the Gators’ home field.
“I try to get her (Phillips) to smile every once in awhile, but I know she is more focused when she is locked in like that,” A-West coach Brenna Millikan said. “I just let her do her thing. I like her intensity.”
Phillips had a rough first two outing on the hill this season. She gave up 11 runs in a 12-0 loss to Broomfield in the Wildcats’ season opener and surrendered another three runs in less than an inning pitched against Chaparral on Wednesday in an 18-8 loss.
The sophomore looked solid against A-West’s former Class 5A Jeffco rival. She also had a big day at the plate going 3-for-4 with three RBIs, including a two-run home run in the Wildcats’ 10-run fourth inning.
“That felt really good,” Phillips said of her blast that cleared the fence in centerfield. “I just saw the ball really well today.”
A five-run top of the first inning gave A-West a nice lead early. The Wildcats pilled on the runs in the top of the fourth inning with the first 11 batters in the inning reaching safely. Sophomore Delaney Fletcher had a two-run double in the inning and the Wildcats took advantage of four walks in the frame.
A-West finished the game with 15 hits while batting around in both the first and fourth innings.
“I think we had a good focus at the plate today,” Millikan said. “We were having good quality at-bats, seeing good pitches and driving in those runs when we needed to.”
Freshman Morgan Clausen had a great game at the plate going 3-for-5 with a trio of RBIs for the Wildcats (2-2 record). It was the second win in less than 24 hours. A-West took a 12-7 victory against Grand Junction on Friday.
“We are a really young team, but we are all really focused and want to win,” Phillips said of the Wildcats that have just two seniors this season.
Standley Lake (0-3) has faced a brutal early schedule facing a pair of teams ranked in the CHSAANow.com 5A softball preseason poll. No. 6 Dakota Ridge and No. 1 Legacy both defeated the Gators earlier this week.
A drop in enrollment at Standley Lake pushed the Gators into the 4A Jeffco League this season, but longtime coach Carrie Ott fully expects her team to learn from playing stiff competition.
“To keep fighting and if you want to win at the end of the season you’ve got to play tough during the season,” Ott said about what the early losses will teach her squad. “I intentionally schedule hard (teams) and I’ll never back off from that.”
Despite trailing 16-1 going to the bottom of the fourth inning Saturday, the Gators put together a nice three-run inning highlighted by an RBI double by senior Siara McCain off the bench.
“We have to keep working hard as we move forward,” Ott said. “We want to peak at the end of the season.”
HIGHLANDS RANCH — Sixth-ranked Dakota Ridge improved to 3-0 with a 15-10 win over No. 9 Rock Canyon on Saturday morning. Rock Canyon drops to 0-2.
Twelve of the Eagles runs cam in the second and third innings.