ENGLEWOOD — The boys lacrosse championship games are set after Mountain Vista, Valor Christian, Evergreen and Cheyenne Mountain all advanced through the semifinals.
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Class 5A:
Class 4A:
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By Paul DiSalvo
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By Paul DiSalvo
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By David Harvey
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By David Harvey
PUEBLO — In two pitches, Ponderosa first baseman Dom Lopez had the best start to the Class 4A state baseball tournament of anyone that made the trip to Pueblo.
After trailing Evergreen 5-0 after just the second inning, the Mustangs had to battle back in their opening contest. They did just that and kept the Cougars off the board for the remainder of the game.
On the first pitch that Lopez saw in the bottom of the seventh inning, he decided it was time to end it. He ripped the first pitch he saw to centerfield and trotted around the bases ready to jump into the celebration of his awaiting teammates at home plate.
The next pitch he saw was his first at-bat in the Mustangs’ second game of the day. He hit it to nearly the same spot beyond the centerfield wall to make it a 2-0 lead for Pondo and the Mustangs went on to beat Cheyenne Mountain 10-8 as teammate Derek Lukes followed suit with a walk-off bomb of his own.
“I really like going after the first pitch,” Lopez said. “I think it’s the best pitch you’ll get the whole at-bat so I always go for that first one, no matter what.”
Bottom 7. Dom Lopez called game. Mustangs win 6-5. #copreps @PonderosaAthle1 @JaronCohen1 pic.twitter.com/Ejp6K0RtX0
— Daniel Mohrmann (@DanMohrmann) June 18, 2021
The Mustangs (17-2 overall) will get a bit of a breather before they head to Rawlings Field on the campus of CSU-Pueblo. They’ll take on Holy Family who flexed its muscles offensively with a 12-2 win over Lewis-Palmer to start the day then followed it up with a 12-3 win over D’Evelyn.
The winner of Holy Family and Ponderosa will be the lone unbeaten team in the 4A tournament heading into next weekend, which is ideal in this modified double-elimination bracket.
In the first day of a state baseball tournament in over two years, the actions between Hobbs Field and Andenucio Field at the Runyon complex couldn’t have been any different. The Tigers (17-1) showed dominance on the way to their two wins at Hobbs. In the second game of the day, Holy Family scored nine runs across three innings to take a big lead over the Jaguars. Brennan Bennett, Connor Cooney, Jared Delgado, Isaac Siefken and Jaden Delgado all scored twice through the course of the game.
D’Evelyn had taken down No. 1 Severance 11-4 earlier in the day.
The thrillers came from Andenucio. Down 5-0 to Evergreen after the first two innings, the Mustangs battled back to tie the game before Lopez ended it with a solo shot in the seventh.
Cheyenne Mountain shook off any homefield advantage that Pueblo County was getting to get a 7-3 win.
Ponderosa started its game with Cheyenne Mountain off with Lopez’s second home run of the day. Cheyenne Mountain tied the game at two then pulled even 8-8 heading into the bottom of the seventh. Lopez was walked to start the inning and then Lukes just saw his pitch and blasted it to left field.
“That’s always going through my mind,” Lukes said. “After what Dom did in the first game and the momentum we had, I kind of knew what was going to happen. There was no doubt in my mind that we were going to win it.”
Severance will play Lewis-Palmer in an elimination game at Rawlings Field at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday. Evergreen and Pueblo County will follow suit at noon. The game between Ponderosa and Holy Family will go off at 7: 30 p.m. with the winner taking control of the state tournament going into championship weekend.
GREENWOOD VILLAGE — Any coach can admit that the key to winning any game is often a quick start, and in the playoffs, a quick start is even more important. Cherry Creek girls soccer got off to a quicker than quick start on its way to a 5-2 win over Arapahoe in the Class 5A girls soccer quarterfinals.
Just 53 seconds into the game at the Stutler Bowl, Senior forward Kelly Francis got on the scoresheet. Less than 5 minutes later, Cherry Creek extended their lead over Arapahoe to 3-0 after Junior Alyssa Glover put a shot into the back of the Warriors’ net, followed by a pass off her foot directly onto the head of Masen Frey, giving Glover an assist. By the time the first half was halfway over, Cherry Creek had a commanding 5-1 lead.
BRUINS GOAL!!
This header from Addie Follet came right to Kelly Francis, over the head of the Arapahoe goalkeeper to give Cherry Creek the 1-0 lead #copreps pic.twitter.com/nB8oAdsRfw
— Ben Parris (@BenParris04) June 19, 2021
“We talked about coming out quick, we talked about that all week long,” Cherry Creek coach David Gamelin said. “You never expect to score five goals in 20 minutes; that’s not what I expected, but I did expect us to come out hard.”
At halftime, the score was 5-2 after Arapahoe’s Paige Foa scored with under 10 minutes to go in the half, but as the teams came out for second, there was no more goals to be found as that score was the game’s final.
For Cherry Creek, Friday’s win advances them to their first semifinal game since 2012. Ending the 9-year drought, “Was really a team effort,” Alyssa Glover said. “We all worked so hard all season… It’s a great feeling to be able to push for a State Championship.”
Next up for No. 3 Cherry Creek is No. 2 Broomfield who scored late against Mountain Vista on Friday night to win their quarterfinal match 2-1. The Bruins and Eagles will meet at Englewood High School on Wednesday, June 23rd, for the opportunity to play in the state championship next weekend.
The first day of the Class 5A baseball tournament saw Valor Christian and Mountain Vista win two games and advance to Saturday unbeaten.
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By Paul DiSalvo
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By Paul Shepardson
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By Paul Shepardson
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By Paul Shepardson
The Season D state tournament bracket for Class 5A boys volleyball is below.
All matches will be played at Rock Canyon High School. Quarterfinals will be played on June 25. Semifinals will be played at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. on June 26. The championship match will begin at 2 p.m.
Tickets cannot be sold in person at Rock Canyon High School and can only be purchased online at GoFan.
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2021 CHSAA State Boys Volleyball Championships (Colorado) Boys Volleyball
A fast start gave No. 4 Erie a quick lead and the Tigers beat No. 5 Golden 17-5 to move on to the Class 4A boys lacrosse semifinals.
Athletes had a chance to tune up and better their state marks at the Rangeview track and field last chance qualifier on Friday.
No. 9 Air Academy took to the road and got a 10-9 win over No. 8 Grandview to advance to the Class 5A girls lacrosse quarterfinals.
No. 2 Valor Christian executed a steady game plan to beat No. 7 Arapahoe 8-3 and advance to Athe Class 5A boys lacrosse semifinals.
No. 8 Green Mountain built an early lead and rode it to a 15-8 win over No. 9 Roaring Fork in the Class 4A girls lacrosse tournament.