La Junta’s Cody Schrock. (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
LA JUNTA — Jay Paolucci wasn’t going to let his teammate have all the fun this week. The La Junta junior watched as his teammate and buddy Cody Schrock took the Pueblo South Invite on Wednesday.
So Friday, on the Tigers’ home course, Paolucci decided he was going to get in the winner’s circle.
He shot a two-over-par 72, but amassed 33 points in the Stableford format to grab the win at the La Junta Invitational. Schrock also netted 33 points, but Paolucci took the win based off a scorecard tiebreaker.
“I can play a little more aggressively (in Stableford) than I can in stroke play,” Paolucci said. “I can be more aggressive with drives and wedge shots to try and make birdie.”
That approach did get him in trouble a bit as he made double-bogey on No. 4. Going two strokes or more over par results in a lost point. Take away that one hole and he was even more pleased with his overall round.
“I was happy with that,” Paolucci said. “Shooting a 72 with a double-bogey? I’ll take that all day long.”
The feeling was only made better by seeing a teammate right behind him on the leaderboard and the overall team coming away with a win at the event.
For the second time this week, Schrock’s score has been the best. But with no one matching him at Elmwood on Wednesday, he got that win rather than falling in a tiebreaker like he did on Friday.
“It’s a good feeling,” Schrock said. “Today, I was just trying to get points. I wasn’t worried about the (strokes) I was just trying to get as many points as I could. At the South tournament, I was just rolling putts in from everywhere.”
He paced himself early, scoring two birdies in his first four holes, grabbing three points apiece for them.
Third place went to Trinidad’s Lance Peters, who started his round with a double-bogey on No. 1, a two-point swing on a difference of only one stroke.
From then on, Peters was more consistent with his play and even matched Schrock’s 38 strokes on the back nine. He finished with 30 points for his round.
“In stroke play, when you have a bad hole like that, you have to get those strokes back,” Peters said. “In Stableford, you can have that hole and get pars to get those points back. So you always have to be on the attack.”
The Tigers have five tournaments left on their schedule, according to iWanamaker. The last league tournament will be at the Country Club at Woodmoor for the Colorado Springs Christian Invitational.
A win for Schrock and a team win for La Junta is giving the team a big confidence boost heading into the final stretch of the season, the time when everyone wants to be playing their best golf.
“They’re starting to peak at the right time,” La Junta coach Aaron Pearson said. “We’re a week or so from regionals and we haven’t shot well together. Today on our home course we kind of expect to, but we finally played well together.”
LITTLETON — Dakota Ridge volleyball coach Nikki Kneuer admits its not always “pretty” but so far this season her squad is perfect.
The Eagles improved to 3-0 Wednesday night with a 3-1 victory over Broomfield in a non-league match. Dakota Ridge failed to sweep for the first time this season, but the 25-19, 25-27, 28-26, 25-20 scores pleased the Dakota Ridge graduate who is in her ninth season coaching her alma mater.
“One of the good things tonight was we got challenged,” Kneuer said. “Broomfield really pushed them hard. Losing that second game was a reality check for them.”
Broomfield rallied from a 20-13 deficit in the second game to even up the match 1-1. It looked like the visitors would take a 2-1 lead, but Dakota Ridge held off three game points in Game 3. A miss hit by Broomfield eventually gave Dakota Ridge a 28-26 win to take a 2-1 lead.
“We just shook it off and kept pushing every point,” Dakota Ridge senior Morgan Green said of the Eagles refocusing after dropping the second game.
Dakota Ridge senior Morgan Green hits a serve against Broomfield on Wednesday night. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
Dakota Ridge closed out the match in style with a nice dig from Green, set from senior Emily Nielsen and kill from senior Lauren Tobey to send the Eagles’ student section home happy.
“We were just super pumped as a team,” Tobey said. “We had a lot of energy and wanted to keep push points. We wanted to win and play fierce.”
Tobey made a huge impact from her middle blocker position, neutralizing Broomfield’s offensive attack. Kneuer has high expectations for Tobey this season.
“Lauren is awesome up there,” Kneuer said of her middle blocker. “She isn’t traditionally a middle, but it’s something we needed this year. She has stepped up to the plate and down a fantastic job. A couple more weeks up there and she will be one of the top middles for sure.”
Dakota Ridge has shown a solid front line with the likes of Tobey, sophomore Brianna Binder, junior Melissa Johns and seniors Tessa Quinter and Taylor Hicken.
Dakota Ridge’s Hannah Jordan set a ball in front of the Eagles’ student section. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
Green, a returning Class 5A Jeffco League second-team all-conference selection, is clearly the floor general for Dakota Ridge.
“She (Green) is a captain for a second year in a row,” Kneuer said. “She just runs this team. It’s like having a second coach on the court.”
The Eagles don’t want to get too far ahead of themselves, but they admit they are eyeing contending for a conference title. Dakota Ridge hasn’t won a league volleyball title since 2003.
Chatfield, Lakewood and Ralston Valley have dominated 5A Jeffco over the past decade, but the solid start for Dakota Ridge gives the Eagles hope they could make their mark this season.
“Every year we talk about it,” Kneuer said of winning a league title. “The girls know we have a lot of work to put into it. We’ve never beaten a Chatfield or Lakewood. We’ve taken games away, but this year we are really focusing on taking our game to that next level.”
Dakota Ridge returns to action for another non-league game on its home court Friday, Sept. 8. The Eagles face Douglas County in a scheduled 6:30 p.m. start.
Broomfield (1-2 record) heads to Lewis-Palmer High School for a tournament Saturday, Sept. 9.
Dakota Ridge’s Tessa Quinter (8) and Lauren Tobey (15) go up for a block on Broomfield’s Vicki Fankell. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
HIGHLANDS RANCH — Rebecca Gonzales was 3-for-3 with a double, triple and three RBIs as Class 5A No. 4 Mountain Vista cruised to a 17-0 win over Heritage.
Makayla Hoselton threw a complete game for the Golden Eagles, only allowing two hits in the win.
No. 3 Brush softball exploded for five runs in the fourth inning of a 2-2 ballgame with No. 9 Faith Christian to win 7-3.
Sydney Odle had three RBIs and a homerun, and Hailey Unrein got the win in six innings on the mound.
Unrein and Kamryn Leoffler also added RBIs for the Beetdiggers.
Brush sits behind Strasburg and Eaton in the latest CHSAANow.com softball rankings, but the Beetdiggers will get a shot at both teams before the end of the season. Twice.
Brush plays Strasburg on Sept. 22 and 26, then Eaton on Sept. 30 after a Sept. 12 matchup.
In fact, six of the eight teams in Class 3A’s District 3 have been ranked this season. The league has the top four teams in the rankings in Eaton, Strasburg, Brush and University.
[button color=”white” size=”big” alignment=”none” rel=”follow” openin=”newwindow” url=”https://old.chsaanow.com/sports/softball/scores/”]For more softball scores across the state, click here.[/button]
Montrose sophomore Micah Stangebye is quickly staking his claim as one of the better ball strikers on the Western Slope.
Stangebye shot a five-under-par 66 to claim the win at Wednesday’s Montrose Invitational. His round at the Bridges at Black Canyon included six birdies and just a single bogey.
He got help from his teammates during the tournament as well. Dawson Hussong and fresham Jordan Jennings each shot a 73, helping Montrose claim the team win at its own tournament.
Fruita Monument’s Blake Andersen was the only other player under par on Wednesday as he shot a 68.
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Woodland Park conquers Cheyenne Shadows as a team
Woodland Park came away with a huge team win at Wednesday’s Gladiator Invitational. The Panthers shot 31-over as a team, five strokes better than second place Pine Creek.
The Classical Academy’s Liam O’Halloran took the individual win, shooting a 77.
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Pueblo County, La Junta winners at Elmwood
Pueblo County grabbed the overall team win while La Junta’s Cody Schrock shot a 72 to take the solo victory at Wednesday’s Pueblo South Invite at Elmwood Golf Course.
Brock Rodrigues shot a 74 for County and teammate Andrew Egan shot a 78 to lead the Hornets to the win.
Mead grabs Tri-Valley tournament title
Kellen Kudrna, T.J. Shehee and Tanner Strong all shot in the 70’s as Mead came away with the win at Wednesday’s Tri-Valley league tournament.
Roosevelt’s Tyler Severin was the best overall golfer of the day as he shot a 71 to claim the solo win.
[button color=”white” size=”big” alignment=”none” rel=”follow” url=”https://old.chsaanow.com/sports/boys-golf/stats/”]Find complete results of all the day’s golf tournaments by clicking here.[/button]
Golden junior Cassidy Paulson picked up the win in the circle for the Demons on Tuesday. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
GOLDEN — Golden’s softball team wasn’t quite ready to taste defeat for the first time this season Tuesday afternoon.
The Demons trailed 12-7 at home to start the bottom of the eighth inning and had five batters come to the plate with two outs in the final inning. Golden managed an incredible rally with a 6-run bottom of the eighth frame to top Elizabeth’s 5-run top of the eighth for a dramatic 13-12 victory for the Demons.
“You don’t see that often,” Golden coach Chad Herbers said of the win and extra inning frame that saw 11 runs scored. “These girls have been fighting. They just proved to me today that they don’t know any other way.”
It looked bleak for Golden to stretch its winning streak to eight games to start the season after senior Megan Feiner stuck out for the Demons’ second out in the eighth inning. Golden trailed 12-7 with runners at the corners, but down to its final out.
“I knew my team had my back,” Feiner said of striking out during her at-bat in the eighth inning. “I knew we would come back.”
Feiner was right. Makenzie Middleton, Rachel Fawcett, Madison Campbell and Jade Gomez-Chavarria all reached base and cut the Cardinals’ lead to 12-10. Golden sophomore Haley Prey delivered the game-winning hit with a hard single through the right side of the infield.
“I wanted to hit the ball on the ground and get those girls in,” Prey said. “I wanted to make solid contact and hit it far enough to get them home.”
Fawcett and pinch-runner Shayne Abrams scored to tie the game. A collision between Abrams and Elizabeth catcher Mayson Briddle at the plate caused the throw to home to get away from Briddle. Gomez-Chavarria was able to beat Briddle to home to score the winning run.
“Our team sticks together. It’s all or nothing,” Feiner said. “When we are down we know we are going to come back up.”
Golden coach Chad Herbers, left, has the Demons off to an 8-0 start. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
Elizabeth (4-4 record) had battled back itself from an early 5-0 deficit to take a 7-6 lead on the Demons (8-0) after a 2-run home run by Taylor Schleisman in the top of the sixth inning.
Feiner’s solo home run in the bottom of the sixth evened things up at 7-7 as the non-league game eventually went into extra innings.
Junior Cassidy Paulson picked up the complete-game victory in the circle for the Demons. Paulson pounded the strike zone and had a pair of 4-pitch innings. Five fielding errors by the Demons in the final four innings helped Elizabeth get back into the game.
“She (Paulson) does exactly what I want her to do,” Herbers said. “Our defense let her down a little bit. She has grown so much as a pitcher. She just keeps throwing strikes.”
The Demons head to the Barnes Softball Complex in Loveland for a two-day tournament Friday and Saturday, Sept. 8 and 9. If Golden can keep its streak going that would be beneficial heading into Class 4A Jeffco League play.
It will be a tough challenge right off the bat in conference play for the Demons. Golden faces three-time defending 4A state champion Valor Christian (Sept. 19), followed up by perennial powerhouses D’Evelyn (Sept. 22) and Wheat Ridge (Sept. 23) to begin league play.
“It’s been a little mental and physical preparedness,” Feiner said of getting ready for conference play.” Our coach is constantly out here. We can get help before or after practice. We leave it all out on the field no matter who we are playing.”
Elizabeth jumps into its 4A Colorado Spring Metro League play 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 7, at Mitchell.
Golden players mob senior Megan Feiner after her solo home run in the sixth inning Tuesday. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
