DENVER, LAKEWOOD and GREELEY — The Class 5A, 4A and 3A state baseball tournaments continue on Saturday, and we’re tracking it all with live coverage.
In 4A and 5A, games begin at 10 a.m., while things begin at noon in 3A. Certain games in 4A and 3A are available on the NFHS Network.
Brackets: 5A | 4A | 3A
[divider]
[divider]
Cherokee Trail put itself in great position with another win in the 5A state baseball tournament on Saturday. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
DENVER — The last time Cherokee Trail captured a state baseball championship, the current crop of seniors were finishing up the third grade.
After dispatching Mullen 9-2 on Saturday in the Class 5A state tournament, the Cougars moved to within one victory of bringing home a new trophy.
Keven MacKintosh tossed a complete game and the Cougars broke open a tight game at All-City Field with a five-run seventh inning to remain undefeated in the tournament. Cherokee Trail will play Rocky Mountain at 10 a.m. on Sunday. Rocky Mountain beat Cherry Creek 17-4 in five innings on Saturday.
The Cougars (21-4) would have to be beaten twice to prevent them from claiming their first 5A championship. The team won the 4A title back in 2007.
“We’ve been knocking on the door for a few years, getting into the Final 8,” Cherokee Trail coach Allan Dyer said. “We needed to get over the hump and this is the group that’s getting us there.”
MacKintosh drew the start against the Mustangs, but had to wait an extra day after wet weather forced the tournament to be delayed.
Cherokee Trail’s Keven MacKintosh threw a complete game in the win. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
“It was pretty nerve-wracking because I knew it was going to be the last time I throw in a CT jersey,” MacKintosh said. “I was going to go out and do my job.”
The senior gave up two runs on seven hits, striking out seven. He didn’t walk a batter and induced a game-ending double play, finishing with 105 pitches.
“Keven knew coming in this was going to be his last game,” Dyer said. “He’s been an integral part of our lineup all year. We had a ton of confidence in him.”
Cherokee Trail got on the board in the third inning on an RBI single from Eric Cox, scoring Jerome Bohannon. A three-run fifth inning extended the lead to 4-0, with Ryan Sullivan, Matt Meraz and John-Michael Osley driving in runs.
Mullen’s Joey Salvato doubled home a run in the bottom of the fifth and Marcus Salvato singled home another run in the sixth to make it a 6-2 game, but the Cougars batted around in the seventh, plating five runs on just two hits.
“We stayed with it all game. In the beginning they were catching a lot of balls that we were hitting really well,” Sullivan said. “We were just like, ‘Guys, stick with it. They’re going to start falling.’”
Travis Lynch brought home the first run in the seventh inning on a squeeze bunt with the bases loaded and nobody out. Osley was hit by a pitch to load the bases again, and Bohannon walked to make it 6-2.
Conner Nantkes drove in another run with a fielder’s choice, and Nick Perez smacked a two-run double to cap the scoring.
“We’re going to face some good pitching, and we know that we’ve just got to hang in there and wait for our opportunities and get after it,” Dyer said. “That’s what we did. That’s what we’ve been doing.”
Maverick Handley led Mullen with three hits. Andrew Nuanes pitched into the fifth inning, allowing four runs on five hits. The Mustangs had eliminated two teams last weekend after dropping their tournament opener.
For the Cougars, it all comes down to Sunday against an opponent they already defeated last weekend. Even with an if-necessary game as a backup, Dyer said the team is treating Sunday morning’s contest as a must-win situation.
“It’s been our goal to be playing on the last day,” Sullivan said. “We know we’re going to go all out tomorrow and do whatever we can to win it.”
Rocky Mountain beat Cherry Creek on Saturday. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Rocky Mountain, meanwhile, will be making its seventh appearance in a championship game.
The Lobos’ lineup had an outstanding day on Saturday, pounding out 15 hits and scoring 17 runs against Cherry Creek, and did most of its damage in a ten-run second inning. Eleven different players had a hit, and six had at least one RBI.
Spencer Gendreau and Jadon Uhrich each went 2-for-3 with two RBIs, while Kadin Breeze went 2-for-4 with three RBIs. Easton Dolan also had two RBIs.
Rocky Mountain and Cherokee Trail met in the second round of the state tournament, a game the Cougars won 7-0 last Friday.
(Bethany Brookens/CHSAANow.com)
LAKEWOOD — After getting past “The Greenwalt Effect,” the Pueblo West baseball team can focus on winning a state baseball championship.
The Cyclones slipped past Windsor and standout pitcher Jake Greenwalt 3-1 on Saturday at All-Star Park to reach the title game of the Class 4A state baseball tournament.
Pueblo West (21-4), unbeaten in the eight-team field, meets once-beaten Valor Christian (21-4) at 10 a.m. Sunday in an effort to claim the school’s first baseball crown. If the Eagles win, it would force a second championship game — win and take all — at 12:30 p.m.
Valor Christian eliminated Erie (16-9) in Saturday’s first game to reach the title game.
Pueblo West had been ousted from the 4A tournament last season by Greenwalt and the Wizards in the first round of district play in Pueblo 2-0. In addition, Greenwalt has played “Pueblo killer” this season, knocking off Pueblo East 2-0 during the regular season and shutting out Pueblo Centennial 3-0 in district play.
The Cyclones erased a 1-0 Windsor lead, tying the game in the third and scoring an unearned run in the fourth for a 2-1 cushion. They added an insurance run in the sixth.
Zach Maize went six innings for Pueblo West, giving up Mitch Watson’s one-out home run down the left field line in the first inning. He threw scoreless ball after that, blanking the Wizards for the next five innings. Maize (9-1) struck out a career-high seven, including three in the fourth inning.
Mitchell Wagoner relieved Maize in the seventh and ran into some trouble as Branon Penninger ripped a one-out single and Watson walked.
But with the tying runs on base, he struck out Tyler Shubert and got Greenwalt to fly out to short center field to earn the save.
Greenwalt, who lost for the first time following nine victories, threw seven innings, giving up three runs, two earned. He struck out seven, walked two and hit two batters. He came into the game with an ERA under 1.00, striking out nearly two batters per inning.
“I wanted to shove strikes,” said Maize, who was lifted after throwing 98 pitches. “That’s what I was told to do. Just make sure to get this team a win and give us championship life.
“The guys were telling me to do my job and they were going to get runs for me. I was just going to go as far as I could go,” Maize added. “Now, I get to sit and watch. I wished I would be able to pitch in the championship game because that’s every pitcher’s dream. But (Valor) has hit two home runs off me and I see what the coaches are doing. I respect that.”
Pueblo West coach Dan Sanchez said his team took a good approach against Greenwalt.
“I think we’re mature hitters right now,” he said. “We’ve seen pitchers like him before like in Arizona. He’s good and we did the little things we needed to to get a win against him.”
Sanchez added that his team is playing well at the right time.
“The kids are confident right now,” Sanchez said. “They just thought they were going to get it down. They didn’t panic when (Watson) hit that home run. Kudos to Zach (Maize). Two weekends in a row he battled his butt off and I can’t give him enough credit.
“We did all the right little things and the ball bounced right a few times. We have decisions to make as to who to throw (today), but those are good decisions.”
Neither Pueblo West nor Valor Christian has won a state baseball title. The Cyclones have won a football title and captured the 4A basketball crown this past March.
[divider]
The Eagles used a five-run fifth inning to break open a 1-1 tie and went on to claim the victory.
Luke Bozarth ripped a two-run double down the right field line with the bases loaded to make it 3-1 and Erik Ohman followed with a two-run triple off the left-field wall for a 5-1 advantage. Joel Pierce drove in the fifth run of the inning with an infield single, scoring Ohman.
Luke Ziegler went six innings to pick up his sixth win against one loss for Valor. He scattered three hits, striking out five and walking five. The sophomore right-hander survived a shaky first inning when he walked three but wiggled out of it with just one unearned run on a strike-em-out, throw-em-out double play.
“I struggled with my control early in the game but once I found my off-speed pitch, I felt OK,” Ziegler said. “We still approach things one game at a time. We knew coming into the weekend we had to win three but we’re not looking ahead.”
Erie rallied for a pair of runs in the seventh against Valor reliever Nyk Crumrine and had the tying run at the plate in Luke Conilogue with two runners on. But Conilogue lined out to Crumrine to end the game and Erie’s season.
The Tigers ended at 16-9.
“It was totally uncharacteristic of us to give up six freebies in the first inning,” Valor coach Keith Wahl said. ” All we talk about is the freebie war. We were able to answer back in the first and after that things went our way.
“I am interested to see what Pueblo West does. In 2013 when they lost to Mountain View, they held their ace.”
Erie coach Harold Simmons praised the fight of his team.
“A lot of these guys had older brothers play and have been around the program a long time,” Simmons said. ” They bought into our program and weren’t willing to let it go even in a game where we could have laid down.
“Their lineup was too good for us to make a mistake. They had some big hits and we put ourselves in a hole. We couldn’t push any runs across. Ziegler is a heck of a player.”
DENVER — The Final 4 of the Class 5A state baseball tournament was Saturday, and ultimately, Cherokee Trail and Rocky Mountain will meet for the championship.
[divider]
[WPS_photo_gallery id=”680″]
Runyon Field Sports Complex in Pueblo was left with standing water after rain on Thursday. (Courtesy photo)
AURORA — The Class 4A and 5A baseball tournaments have been delayed one day to a Saturday/Sunday schedule, and the 2A tournament has been delayed to Sunday.
It rained in the metro area nearly all day Thursday, and overnight into Friday morning, leaving the fields wet at host sites in Lakewood (All-Star Park, site of 4A), and Denver (All-City Stadium, 5A). Those fields held up well, but there is a 60 percent chance of more rain on Friday, according to the National Weather Service.
And so, the decision to delay the tournaments one day was made to ensure that there wasn’t a split schedule where one game was played, but not the second.
CHSAA assistant commissioner Bert Borgmann, who administers baseball, sent the following memo to schools on Friday morning:
While the fields held up well in yesterday and last night’s rain storms, there is a significant chance of additional storms this afternoon in the area. In attempting to maintain a level playing field for pitching, any postponement this afternoon could jeopardize that aspect of the game.
Weather for the next two days looks extremely favorable to maintain the integrity of the tournament.
So the 4A and 5A baseball tournaments will now resume on Saturday at 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., with games concluding on Sunday (also 10 a.m., and, if necessary, 12:30 p.m.).
Meanwhile, the Runyon Field Sports Complex in Pueblo — host of the 2A tournament — was hammered by rain on Thursday and it left standing water on the fields. The semifinals in that tournament were originally scheduled for Saturday, but have been moved to Sunday.
Game times in 2A remain the same, with the semifinals at 10 a.m. on Sunday and the championship at 1 p.m. on Hobbs Field.
Brackets have been updated here:
The 3A tournament was also moved to a Saturday/Sunday schedule on Thursday evening.
CHSAANow will continue provide further updates, should they be needed.
Lewis-Palmer won the 4A girls soccer title on Wednesday. More photos. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
COMMERCE CITY — Entering Wednesday’s Class 4A girls soccer state title game, there was only one thing on Lewis-Palmer’s mind: unfinished business.
The Rangers lost last year’s title game, falling to Cheyenne Mountain in penalty kicks. They were determined to not come away empty-handed again. They topped Valor Christian 1-0 in a game filled with scoring opportunities, aggressive play and emotion.
“Last year, we were definitely disappointed with the second (place finish),” junior forward Brianna Alger said. “The year we came out, were changing our mistakes, going out hard all 80 minutes and playing our game.”
And by doing so, they captured gold.
Though it was far from easy. Neither team was getting very many looks early and even from the first kick, it seemed like legitimate scoring chances were going to be few and far between.
The Rangers would strike pay dirt in the 18th minute as Alger got the ball to Annica Fletemeyer at the top of the goalie box and had a clean look at the net.
The shot was to Valor keeper Alexandra Daws’ right side and proved to be just out of reach, giving the Rangers a 1-0 lead.
“I didn’t want to miss it, that’s what was going through my mind,” Fletemeyer said. “It was a great ball by Brianna. I didn’t want to miss it because I didn’t want to let my team down. It was just such a rushing feeling of emotion, so I’m just really glad I could put it away.”
More photos. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
And then the pressure started sinking in. With a 1-0 lead, the prospect of giving it up and losing momentum is something that can easily creep in to the minds of the players as well as the coaches.
“You’re always nervous as a coach, 1-0 is nothing to a team like Valor Christian,” Rangers coach Joe Martin said. “That lead, we knew we needed another one.”
And there were a few times that they almost got it. On two separate occasions, Lewis-Palmer had great looks at the net, but couldn’t convert on either one. One shot went off the post and the Alger had the other, but her shot went straight into Daws.
“I kept thinking that if they got one of those free kicks that my one shot that went right to the goalie would’ve saved us,” she said. “We still pulled it out and I am so proud of my team.”
The title for Lewis-Palmer is the first girls soccer championship for the school since 1996. That was the Rangers’ third title in a span of four years. It is the fourth girls title for the program. Before the game, with last year’s loss to Cheyenne Mountain in mind, Martin took the time to tell his girls exactly what it would take to complete their title run.
“If they want this, if they want to prove something, fight for what you want,” he said. “We had firm belief that they would come out and they would fight hard.”
And they did. After 80 minutes of play Wednesday night, they no longer had unfinished business to worry about.
COMMERCE CITY — Lewis-Palmer girls soccer won the Class 4A girls soccer title on Wednesday, beating Valor Christian 1-0.
[divider]
[WPS_photo_gallery id=”676″]
COMMERCE CITY — Grandview girls soccer repeated as the Class 5A champion with a 2-1 win over Mountain Vista on Wednesday.
[divider]
[WPS_photo_gallery id=”677″]
Colorado Academy repeated as the girls lacrosse champion. More photos. (Matt Daniels/MattDanPhoto.com)
DENVER — Colorado Academy girls lacrosse is on a roll.
The Mustangs beat Cherry Creek 9-8 on Wednesday evening to repeat as the sport’s champion, and in doing so extended their winning streak to 29 games, including a perfect 18-0 in 2016.
“We knew what the feeling felt like last year and our coach asked if we wanted it again,” Colorado Academy junior Sydney Prokupek said. “Of course we did so we went all out.”
The two teams met in last season’s title game, and hadn’t met since then. Last year, Colorado Academy took the trophy with an 8-3 win in the lowest-scoring game in championship history.
On Wednesday, though Cherry Creek’s Eliza Radochonski scored the first of the game, the No. 1 Mustangs quickly took the lead.
Colorado Academy junior Claire Wright put her team on the board, followed by a dump shot by leading scorer Lauren Russell, and another by senior Maddie Webster on a free position chance. Within 15 minutes, the Mustangs had taken the 3-1 lead.
Though Cherry Creek snuck one in on the other end, their defensive penalties cost them goals and set Cherry Creek up in opportune positions time after time.
Before the end of the half, Russell and Wright had each added another along with Prokupek. With a 6-2 lead, Colorado Academy looked to be running away with it before the midway mark, but Cherry Creek’s Radochonski and Pearl Schwartz scored two goals back-to-back to end the half only trailing by two.
Schwartz found the net again, her second of her eventual hat trick, at the start of the second half to put the pressure on Colorado Academy at 6-5. In the span of 7 minutes, the Bruins had scored three in a row just as their opponents did early on.
More photos. (Matt Daniels/MattDanPhoto.com)
“This was our last chance to play this very game, against this team, with this team,” said Schwartz, “We came out of the half at one-hundred percent.”
Sophomore goalie Sara McGuire looked quicker in the goal, making four momentous saves in just the the first 10 minutes.
Though Creek’s defense came alive, Colorado Academy’s offense was still persistent, as Russell scored her third to earn the 7-5 lead and the momentum.
Then it was a pair of goals from Cherry Creek senior Randi Mostellar to tie the game, quickly followed by a line drive and first leading score for the Bruins from junior Emma Godfrey.
But the answer came from Prokupek with a perfectly planned and timed cross-body shot from the left to even it up again with under five minutes to play.
Wright completed her hat trick in those finals minutes, regaining the lead and forcing Cherry Creek to rush for the comeback.
Creek had two chances in under a minute, but saves from All-American goalie Bridget Sutter secured the Mustangs championship, one that was completed by a 46-goal tally in a four-game playoff stretch.
“The biggest part was being disciplined and knowing when to take the shot,” Prokupek said. “We did that in the last few minutes. Knowing when to hold back and knowing when to go hard was key.”
With the win, coach Steph Sanders reaches her second title in just two seasons with Colorado Academy.
Grandview won the 5A girls soccer championship on Wednesday. More photos. (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
COMMERCE CITY — Grandview girls soccer has stepped into rare air.
The Wolves claimed their second-straight Class 5A girls soccer crown at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park with a 2-1 victory over Mountain Vista. In doing so, they became the first team to repeat in 5A girls soccer since Heritage did it in 1991 and 1992.
Goals by Grandview’s Melanie Jenkins and Mountain Vista’s Haley Schueppert (on a penalty kick) tied the game at one at the break. That’s when Avianne Burris, a junior midfielder, stepped in.
“All season long I’ve talked to them about when I put subs onto the field, your job is to go in and make an impact,” Grandview coach Tari Wood said. “I would say about 70 percent of our goals have been scored within five minutes of a sub coming on. Their legs are fresh.”
Off an assist from Mandi Duggan, Burris’ touch went over the head of Mountain Vista goalkeeper Kylee Love, a game-winner with twenty minutes to go.
“It happened so fast,” Burris said. “I wasn’t thinking about anything. I just shot it. It went in. I’m very blessed.”
And so, Grandview fulfilled lofty expectations after a 2015 season that included not only a state championship, but also a No. 1 national ranking by MaxPreps. They did return four first or second team all-staters — senior Bailey Cook, senior Duggan, junior Nicole Lyubenko and junior Taylor Parker — but had to replace goalie Maddie Lesjak, a first-teamer herself.
But it all came together for the Wolves again, finishing unbeaten at 18-0-1. Their one tie on the road at Mountain Vista was avenged in the state finals.
Grandview mostly dominated a high-level 5A field again in a sport with plenty of Colorado firepower — 69 D-I recruits in the senior class — with a defense that gave up one goal in the past two postseasons.
“That PK is the only goal we’ve given up in the playoffs in two years,” Wood said. “I’ve told these kids forever that defense wins championships. We’re solid offensively, but we’re phenomenal defensively.”
Filling in for graduated Lesjak, sophomore Reagan McCombs not only had a nearly unblemished postseason, but also gave up only seven goals all year.
Grandview is the third team in history to repeat as a champ in the highest classification. Overland did it in 6A in 1991, 1992; and Arapahoe repeated when the sport was unclassified in 1985 and 1986.
Burris says a big reason why is the cohesion Grandview played with this season.
“We knew everyone was after us for the state title,” she said. “This is a bunch of girls that know each other pretty well. We play club together. We all just wanted it bad for ourselves. It’s something Grandview soccer has never done.”
Grandview, a school that opened in Aurora in 1998, has now won 11 state championships, ten in girls sports and one in boys.
As for Mountain Vista, reigning national player of the year Mallory Pugh, called up to the women’s national team in January, opted not to play this season — though she was on the roster and supported her teammates throughout the year.
The Golden Eagles also lost all-state players Megan Massey and Morgan McDougal off a team that reached the semifinals. Nonetheless, the No. 6 seed beat Fossil Ridge, Cherokee Trail, Arapahoe and Columbine on the way to a runner-up finish.