LAFAYETTE — Pomona won the annual Top of the Rockies wrestling tournament on Saturday, edging second-place Arvada West by one total point. Thompson Valley placed third.
Top-10 team results:
1. Pomona (163.5)
2. Arvada West (162.5)
3. Thompson Valley (138)
4. Rio Rancho, N.M. (128.5)
5. Rocky Mountain (123)
6. Omaha North, Neb. (108)
7. Ponderosa (100)
8. Grand Island, Neb. (92)
9. Legacy (90)
10. Brush (89)
The 2014 all-state softball teams are presented by CHSAANow.com, ColoradoPreps.com and MaxPreps.
These team were created following a process where the coaches voted upon a list of nominees. Those nominees included every player who was a first-team all-league selection.
Coaches also voted specifically for player and coach of the year.
Scroll down to see the teams, or use the menu below to navigate to the class of your choosing.
Player of the year: Murphy McRoberts, Fossil Ridge
Coach of the year: Dave Thies, Grandview
| First Team | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | School | Year | Pos. |
| Baillie Brooks | Dakota Ridge | Sr. | 3B/C |
| Courtney Browne | Grandview | Jr. | P/1B |
| Berkley Calapp | Fossil Ridge | Sr. | SS/3B |
| Hannah Clark | Rock Canyon | Sr. | SS/UTIL |
| Alyssa Geist | Legacy | Sr. | OF |
| Tes Hass | Loveland | Sr. | CF |
| Savannah Heebner | Castle View | Sr. | P/UTIL |
| Hunter Huser | Mountain Range | So. | P |
| Ashley Kim | Douglas County | Sr. | 3B/C |
| Kenya Lindstrom | Denver East | Sr. | P |
| Murphy McRoberts | Fossil Ridge | Sr. | P/1B |
| Kayla Michel | Brighton | Sr. | C/1B |
| Carly Perry | Columbine | Sr. | SS |
| Melissa Rahrich | Brighton | Jr. | P/3B |
| Courtney Robbins | Rocky Mountain | Sr. | CF |
| Haley Smith | Legacy | Sr. | P |
| Emily Supercynski | Grandview | Sr. | SS/3B |
| Caitlyn Williams | Horizon | Sr. | SS |
| Second Team | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | School | Year | Pos. |
| Gracie Cordova | Pomona | So. | OF |
| Riley Craig | Mountain Range | Jr. | 3B |
| Tyler Hays | Grand Junction Central | Sr. | SS/2B |
| Brett Johnson | Bear Creek | Sr. | P |
| Clara Larson | Douglas County | Jr. | SS/2B |
| Lindsey Malkin | Broomfield | So. | 3B/C |
| Katelyn Maynard | Grandview | Sr. | C/3B/2B |
| Angel Micciulli | Westminster | Sr. | OF |
| Valerie Ortega | Mountain Range | Jr. | C |
| Alexa Romero | Eaglecrest | Jr. | P/1B |
| Alexa Samuels | Ralston Valley | So. | C/3B |
| Megan Sansburn | Dakota Ridge | Jr. | SS/RHP |
| Sloane Stewartson | Rock Canyon | So. | C |
| Emily Taggart | Legacy | So. | C |
| Taylor Thoms | Prairie View | Sr. | CF |
| Dani Valerio | Dakota Ridge | Sr. | CF |
| Alexandra Velazquez | Grandview | So. | RF/CF/P |
| Jasmine Wessel | Horizon | Sr. | C |
| Celyn Whitt | Legacy | Sr. | INF |
Player of the year: Alexandria Kilponen, Valor Christian
Coach of the year: Dave Atencio, Valor Christian
| First Team | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | School | Year | Pos. |
| Analece Apodaca | Wheat Ridge | Sr. | 2B/3B/SS |
| Jessica Boruff | Berthoud | Sr. | OF/P |
| Alex Dufour | Frederick | Sr. | INF |
| Cheyenne Hamilton | Frederick | Sr. | OF |
| Alicia Hernandez | Frederick | So. | P/OF |
| Alexandria Kilponen | Valor Christian | Fr. | P/1B |
| Bailey Kleespies | Niwot | Jr. | SS/3B/2B |
| Gabby Loya | Wheat Ridge | So. | C/3B/1B |
| Tiffany Maul | Erie | Sr. | C |
| Kellie Mrofcza | Vista Ridge | Sr. | SS/P |
| Kendall Ohman | Valor Christian | Sr. | CF/RF |
| Ally Power | Ponderosa | Sr. | P/UTIL |
| Rio Sanchez | Erie | So. | P/INF |
| McKenzie Surface | Discovery Canyon | Sr. | P/1B |
| Ann Marie Torres | Wheat Ridge | Jr. | 3B/SS/P |
| Second Team | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | School | Year | Pos. |
| Taylor Armitage | Berthoud | Jr. | P/UTIL |
| Courtney Baeckel | Mountain View | Sr. | 1B/C |
| Lexie Comer | Woodland Park | Sr. | P/SS/UTIL |
| Macy Cox | Holy Family | Sr. | P/2B |
| Brooklynn Delozier | Niwot | Jr. | CF/SS |
| Shyanne DeVille | Pueblo West | Sr. | SS/P/3B |
| Tatianna Dominguez | Mullen | Sr. | P/OF/1B |
| Chayanna Gallardo | Pueblo East | So. | C |
| Bridget Gleason | Cheyenne Mountain | Sr. | P/SS |
| Tianna Harper | Mead | Sr. | C/3B |
| Hailey Hinson | Windsor | Jr. | CF |
| Shelby Mann | Valor Christian | Sr. | 2B/SS |
| Allie Mason | Thompson Valley | Jr. | 1B/P/3B |
| Mae Mitchell | Frederick | Jr. | INF |
| Megan Moss | Pueblo West | Jr. | 3B/C/UTIL |
| Christina Nelson | Wheat Ridge | Jr. | SS/2B/P |
| Makenna Roth | Valor Christian | Sr. | LF/CF |
| Ashley Thomas | Pueblo West | Jr. | P/1B/OF |
| Paris Woods | Frederick | So. | OF |
Player of the year: Bridgette Hutton, Valley
Coach of the year: Justin Weber, La Junta
| First Team | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | School | Year | Pos. |
| Cassie Alcorn | Limon | Sr. | – |
| Annie Davis | La Junta | Jr. | SS/P |
| Jenna Frink | Eaton | Sr. | C |
| Sami Gill | Valley | Sr. | C |
| McKenna Gubanich | Faith Christian | So. | SS |
| Bridgette Hutton | Valley | Sr. | P/1B/CF |
| Dallas Magnusson | Sterling | Sr. | P |
| Annie Oakley | Strasburg | Jr. | C/INF/UTIL |
| Whitni Oquist | La Junta | Sr. | P |
| Taylor Renaud | Eaton | Jr. | OF |
| Jordan Roesch | Strasburg | Jr. | CF/P |
| Alexis Rutz | Sterling | Jr. | P |
| Sarah Scott | Faith Christian | Sr. | CF |
| Dakota Stotyn | Strasburg | Fr. | P/CF |
| Sandy VanErt | Strasburg | Sr. | 3B |
| Brooklyn Waddles | La Junta | Sr. | OF |
AURORA — One thing is for sure when the winning team hoists the Class 5A state softball trophy Saturday at Aurora Sports Park.
It will be a first for somebody.
None of the four teams remaining have ever won a state softball champions in the program’s history. Top-seed Fossil Ridge and No. 4 Castle View square off in one semifinal. No. 6 Grandview and No. 7 Broomfield face each other in the other semifinal at 10 a.m. Saturday at Aurora Sports Park.
The winners are schedule to play in the title game at 1:30 p.m. Saturday. See the full bracket here.
“That No. 1 seed doesn’t scare me,” Castle View coach Caley Mitchell said after her squad advanced into the semifinals with a 1-0 victory against Eaglecrest late Friday afternoon. “It’s going to be Sabercat versus Sabercat.”
Castle View moved on thanks largely because of its senior Savannah Heebner. The 6-foot pitcher allowed just two hits in the Sabercats’ 11-1 victory in the opening round Friday morning against Pine Creek.
Heebner then won a pitching duel a few hours later with Eaglecrest’s ace Alexa Romero. Heebner threw a complete-game shutout allowing just three hits and striking out 10 batters in a 1-0 victory. Castle View’s lone run came in the first inning when junior Kayla Gau’s double drove in sophomore Lexi Kagan.
“She (Heebner) was fired up to play this game,” Mitchell said. “Last year we lost in the first round so our goal this year to make it here and we did. She gets better as she throws longer.”
Castle View had high hopes last year going into the state tournament, but Eaglecrest bounced the Sabercats out in the first round with a 5-4 victory.
“It is our time. Our school motto this year is ‘Our Time’. I believe in that 100 percent,” said Heebner, who has committed to play at the University of Houston next year. “I believe we are going to go all the way.”
Fossil Ridge shut out Arvada West 2-0 in the opening round and then got hot with the bats against Douglas County in the quarterfinals. Fossil Ridge took a 9-5 win to advance to Saturday.
Grandview cruised through into the semifinals with dominating wins against Chaparral and Columbine. While, Broomfield had the most interesting two games having to score double-digit runs against Central of Grand Junction and Horizon to survive.
“That is our thing. Our girls can hit the ball,” Broomfield coach Paula Seifried said after a wild 11-9 victory against Horizon in the quarterfinals.
The Eagles took a 6-0 lead, but gave up eight runs to Horizon in the top of the fourth inning to fall behind 8-6. Broomfield rallied to regain the lead, but the Hawks wouldn’t go do without a fight.
Horizon tied the game at 9-9 going to the bottom of the sixth inning. Broomfield senior Kenzie Brock drove in the eventual-game winning run.
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A lot of familiar faces and usual suspects advanced into the 4A semifinals.
Defending state champion and No. 4 Wheat Ridge squeezed out a pair of one-run victories against Air Academy and Discovery Canyon to keep the Farmers’ hopes for a repeat alive.
Wheat Ridge faces top-seeded Frederick in one semifinal Saturday morning at 10 a.m. The Warriors got victories over D’Evelyn and Ponderosa on Friday.
No. 2 Valor Christian got back Niwot and Mullen to advance into the state semifinal for the first time in the program’s history. The Eagles get 11-time state champion Erie in the other 4A softball at 10 a.m. Saturday.
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No surprises on the 3A side.
The top four seeds advanced to Saturday. No. 1 Strasburg, No. 2 Valley, No. 3 La Junta and No. 4 Sterling will battle it out Saturday.
Defending state champion Strasburg has to beat league rival Sterling for the third time this season to advance to the state championship game. The previous two meeting were one-run victories.
Valley, who also has two losses to Strasburg this season, squares off against La Junta in the other semifinal.
The 2014 state tournament bracket for Class 5A softball. The tournament runs Oct. 17-18 at Aurora Sports Park. Tickets can be bought online.
Find 5A softball regional results here.
2014 CHSAA State Softball Championships 2014 5A State Softball Bracket
Jennifer Romero led Columbine to the biggest upset in the softball regionals on Saturday.
The sophomore pitched in all three games her No. 31-seeded Rebels played in the Class 5A bracket, and didn’t allow a run — including a complete-game performance against No. 2 Legacy, the defending 5A champion, which clinched a berth in next weekend’s state tournament.
“She really stepped it up a notch,” Columbine coach Brooks Roybal told CHSAANow.com on Saturday evening. “She pitched really, really well.”
Columbine actually dropped its opening game of the 5A Region 8 bracket at Broomfield Industrial Park. That was also against Legacy, and the Rebels fell 6-0.
But Romero entered in the final two innings of the opening game, and didn’t allow Legacy another run.
Columbine dropped to the loser’s bracket for the second game, and face Cherokee Trail — a team the Rebels had beaten 12-11 in the second game of the season. Like the first meeting, offense ruled. Cherokee Trail led 7-6 midway through before Romero again entered again — and again shut the opposing offense down.
Columbine went on to rally and win that game, 11-7, thanks in part to a home run from Carly Perry.
Meanwhile, Douglas County had topped Cherokee Trail 6-0, and then beat Legacy 7-0 to win the region. It set Columbine up with a rematch, with a berth to state on the line.
This time, Romero started. She pitched a complete-game shutout, and buoyed by a grand slam from Perry, Columbine pulled the upset, 8-0.
“I think playing against Cherokee Trail, our bats came alive a little bit and they had a little more confidence going against Legacy that second round,” Roybal said. “Especially after we shut them down. Legacy might have been down a little bit, too, because they just got beat by Douglas County. You catch them at the right time sometimes.”
The end result was this: Columbine, a No. 31 seed, moved on to the state tournament, while Legacy did not.
“We told them afterwards it was probably the biggest win Columbine has had in the last eight years,” Roybal said. “We haven’t been a qualifier for seven or eight years.”
Columbine already had a number of big wins this season, including topping Brighton and Ralston Valley.
“They’ve got a few good wins under their belts this year which have been huge,” Roybal said. “You know, we’ve never beat Brighton, we’ve never beaten Ralston Valley. And I’m sure we’ve never beaten Legacy. We’ve always thought we could beat anybody, if we played well.”
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A complete schedule for the Class 5A regional softball playoffs. All games are Oct. 11, unless noted.
These tournaments are in a double-elimination format. The winners of games four and five in each region will qualify for the state tournament.
Printable bracket: PDF
Go to region: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8
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MONTROSE — Kellyn Alexander had eight aces, Marisa Jahnke had eight kills and Montrose swept Grand Junction Central in volleyball, 25-18, 25-19, 26-24.
Fossil Ridge moved up four spots in this week’s Class 5A softball poll from CHSAANow.com.
The Sabercats, who went 4-0 last week to improve to 12-1, are now No. 3.
Dakota Ridge remained on top of the 5A ranking again this week, though voting continues to be split. The Eagles got five of the 11 first-place votes, with No. 2 Brighton getting two and Fossil Ridge the other four.
The 5A poll got two new teams this week: No. 9 Grandview and No. 10 Grand Junction Central.
In 4A, Berthoud (No. 8) and Erie (No. 10) joined. That ranking continued to be led by Frederick.
Strasburg stayed atop the 3A poll, and rightfully so. The team beat then-No. 2 Sterling and then-No. 3 Valley as part of a 4-0 week.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. Polls are released each Monday.
Complete rankings for each class are below.
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Voted upon by coaches and select media members around the state. New voters can sign up by emailing rcasey@chsaa.org. These rankings have no bearing on postseason seeding.
| Class 5A | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RK | TEAM | W-L | PTS | PVS | LW |
| 1 | Dakota Ridge (5) | 12-2-0 | 98 | 1 | 3-0-0 |
| 2 | Brighton (2) | 10-1-0 | 94 | 2 | 3-0-0 |
| 3 | Fossil Ridge (4) | 12-1-0 | 93 | 7 | 4-0-0 |
| 4 | Castle View | 11-2-0 | 70 | 3 | 3-1-0 |
| 5 | Legend | 12-3-0 | 55 | 4 | 2-1-0 |
| 6 | Mountain Range | 12-2-0 | 53 | 6 | 3-1-0 |
| 7 | Legacy | 10-4-0 | 49 | 8 | 3-0-0 |
| 8 | Chaparral | 11-3-0 | 22 | 5 | 1-2-0 |
| 9 | Grandview | 9-5-0 | 16 | – | 3-0-0 |
| 10 | Grand Junction Central | 13-3-0 | 12 | – | 5-0-0 |
| Others receiving votes: | |||||
| Broomfield 11, Prairie View 10, Douglas County 9, Denver East 8, Eaglecrest 3, Rampart 2. | |||||
| Dropped out | |||||
| Eaglecrest (9), Douglas County (10). | |||||
| Class 4A | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RK | TEAM | W-L | PTS | PVS | LW |
| 1 | Frederick (9) | 15-0-0 | 90 | 1 | 2-0-0 |
| 2 | Mountain View | 13-0-0 | 80 | 2 | 4-0-0 |
| 3 | Wheat Ridge | 10-3-0 | 71 | 3 | 2-0-0 |
| 4 | Discovery Canyon | 12-1-0 | 53 | 5 | 2-0-0 |
| 5 | Valor Christian | 11-1-0 | 45 | 4 | 2-0-0 |
| 6 | Pueblo West | 11-3-0 | 33 | 7 | 1-1-0 |
| 7 | Vista Ridge | 13-3-0 | 29 | 8 | 3-0-0 |
| 8 | Berthoud | 10-5-0 | 19 | – | 2-0-0 |
| 9 | Windsor | 10-4-0 | 15 | 6 | 2-1-0 |
| 10 | Erie | 8-7-0 | 14 | – | 3-0-0 |
| Others receiving votes: | |||||
| Niwot 12, Ponderosa 12, Woodland Park 7, D’Evelyn 5, Pueblo East 3, Evergreen 2, Falcon 2, Silver Creek 2, Mullen 1. | |||||
| Dropped out | |||||
| Ponderosa (9), Woodland Park (10). | |||||
| Class 3A | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RK | TEAM | W-L | PTS | PVS | LW |
| 1 | Strasburg (7) | 14-0-0 | 70 | 1 | 4-0-0 |
| 2 | Valley | 11-3-0 | 59 | 3 | 2-1-0 |
| 3 | Sterling | 10-4-0 | 52 | 2 | 1-2-0 |
| 4 | Eaton | 10-2-0 | 51 | 4 | 4-0-0 |
| 5 | La Junta | 14-1-0 | 36 | 9 | 3-0-0 |
| 6 | Lamar | 10-5-0 | 36 | 5 | 2-0-0 |
| 7 | Basalt | 10-4-0 | 32 | 8 | 4-0-0 |
| 8 | Brush | 8-6-0 | 20 | 6 | 1-2-0 |
| 9 | Rocky Ford | 9-4-0 | 12 | 10 | 2-1-0 |
| 10 | Cedaredge | 8-4-0 | 10 | 7 | 2-0-0 |
| Others receiving votes: | |||||
| Burlington 3, Skyline 2, Lyons 1, The Academy 1. | |||||
| Dropped out | |||||
| None. | |||||
AURORA — Cherry Creek scored five runs in the top of the fourth inning, and the Bruins went on the beat Grand Junction Central 8-6 on Saturday.
Hannah Meumann and Morgan Hansel each homered for the Bruins.
It had been more than two seasons since Central (Grand Junction) had won a football game. Friday night, the Warriors ended a 21-game losing streak with a 41-32 win at Vista PEAK in Class 3A.
The Warriors led 20-8 in the second quarter, but it quickly turned into a back-and-forth game. Vista PEAK took a 32-27 lead in the third quarter, but Tonka Littlefawn scored on a 36-yard run to give Central the lead for good at 34-32 with 9:54 to play in the game.
Central then sealed it five minutes later when Littlefaw added a 15-yard score to make it 41-32 following a bad snap on a punt.
Littlefawn finished with three scores. Justin Eller and Kian McAdam also had touchdowns.
The Warriors’ last win came 46-26 at Hinkley on Nov. 3, 2011. It was on the same field — at Aurora Public Schools Stadium.
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Regis Jesuit, for the second week in a row, found itself locked in a battle late in the fourth quarter. This time, the result went the Raiders’ way.
A week after losing 27-14 to No. 2 Cherry Creek, Regis Jesuit had to put away rival Mullen, a team that refused to go away. The game featured seven ties or lead changes.
Mullen led 21-20 at halftime and 34-27 late in the third quarter, but Regis Jesuit tied it at 34 with less than a minute to play in the third.
Alex Barnes then scored on a 14-yard run to give Regis the lead at 41-34 with 10 minutes remaining in the game, and the Raiders added another score six minutes later.
But Mullen wasn’t done. Jovan Tafoya hit Ryan Manning on a 40-yard pass for a touchdown with two minutes to play, and the Mustangs drove down for one final chance in the final minute but couldn’t convert on fourth-and-12 from inside the 20.
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Loveland seemed to have pulled the upset — but Roosevelt scored the winning touchdown with 14 seconds left.
Loveland led 15-14 at the half, and it stayed that way for nearly the entire second half. But Roosevelt got the ball with 3:18 to play, and slowly marched its way down the field. Then, with 19 seconds left and facing third down and goal at the 1, the Roughriders’ Christian Majzack scored the winning touchdown.
Adrian Pastrana then had a game-sealing interception on Loveland’s ensuing drive.
The two teams combined to fumble 15 times, according to the Loveland Reporter-Herald.
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This one came down to a goal-line stand at the end. Florence held firm, and held on to win.
Faith Christian had four shots at the end zone from inside the 10, but Florence didn’t bend. The last stop came with one second remaining.
“We took a timeout just to regroup them,” Florence coach Jeremy Nix told ColoradoPreps.com‘s Scoreboard Show. “The boys … just bowed their necks and got after it. We rode the ‘D’ that far, so we were at the point where we could’ve called a timeout to try to save some time, but we had confidence in them and they showed up at the end there.”
Discovery Canyon rallied from a 20-17 deficit at halftime to pull off the upset on the road.
“Tonight was a little bit of a heart-attack game,” Discovery Canyon coach Shawn Mitchell told the Scoreboard Show afterward.
The Thunder actually led 14-0 early before surrendering the lead in the second quarter. But they then reeled off 28-straight points in the third quarter to seize control of the game.
“It was a little bit of a roller-coaster ride for the coaches, to say the least,” Mitchell said.
The third quarter scoring spree was sparked by Blake Lawrie’s touchdown return on the opening kick of the second half.
“Boy, that really helped us,” Mitchell said. “That kind of got spirits back up again, because I think at the end of the second half, they were wondering, ‘Oh, what just happened?’ I think it was, ‘OK, we’re back where we need to be.’”
It was the second-consecutive big win for Discovery Canyon, which beat Silver Creek in Week 1.
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Springfield pulled off the upset at home.
“Both of us grounded and pounded against each other, just kept hitting and hitting and we knew one of us was going to wear out,” coach J.J. Quick told the Scoreboard Show after the game. “We knew our game was to do what they normally do: just keep pounding and banging up front.”
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