Columbine’s players celebrate a home run on Saturday. More photos. (Pam Wagner/CHSAANow.com)
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.”
More 5A notables
No. 24-seeded Pine Creek upset No. 9 Mountain Range in the opening round in Region 2, then advanced to the state tournament with a 10-9 win over Fruita Monument in the final game.
Horizon, a No. 28 seed, rallied from being no-hit by Castle View in its first game to top No. 21 Greeley West (13-2), and then No. 12 Pomona (8-5) in reaching the state tournament.
No. 29 Arvada West dropped its first game, but then won two straight to earn a berth. Included was a 10-5 win over No. 13 Rock Canyon.
The complete 5A state field, with regional seeds noted: No. 1 Fossil Ridge, No. 3 Dakota Ridge, No. 4 Brighton, No. 5 Castle View, No. 6 Legend, No. 7 Grandview, No. 8 Broomfield, No. 10 Grand Junction Central, No. 11 Rocky Mountain, No. 14 Chaparral, No. 16 Eaglecrest, No. 18 Douglas County, No. 24 Pine Creek, No. 28 Horizon, No. 29 Arvada West, No. 31 Columbine.
The softball seeding committee will meet at the CHSAA office at 9 a.m. Monday to seed the state tournament.
Air Academy, a No. 24 seed, dropped its first game of the tournament, to Erie, 3-1. The Kadets then beat No. 25 Holy Family 1-0, and upset eighth-seeded Mountain View 7-5 to claim a state berth.
Region 4 had a length rain delay which disrupted play in its second round games. Prior to the delay, Wheat Ridge advanced. After the delay, No. 20 Thompson Valley went on to upset No. 13 Pueblo East for the other berth.
No. 26-seeded Mead rebounded from an opening-round loss to win its next two games and advance to the 4A tournament. The Mavericks beat No. 23 Thomas Jefferson and No. 10 Berthoud.
D’Evelyn, a No. 27 seed, actually upset No. 6 Vista Ridge in the first round but then dropped the winner’s-bracket game to No. 11 Ponderosa. D’Evelyn had to turn around and beat Vista Ridge again for the tournament berth.
The complete 4A state field, using regional seeds: No. 1 Frederick, No. 2 Valor Christian, No. 3 Pueblo West, No. 4 Wheat Ridge, No. 5 Silver Creek, No. 7 Discovery Canyon, No. 9 Erie, No. 11 Ponderosa, No. 12 Mullen, No. 14 Niwot, No. 16 Falcon, No. 18 Windsor, No. 20 Thompson Valley, No. 24 Air Academy, No. 26 Mead, No. 27 D’Evelyn.
Surprisingly, there was not a single upset during the entire 3A regional tournament. It meant the new format, which would have only played a third game if the top seed in a given region lost, was not used this season.
The complete 3A state field, using regional seeds: No. 1 Strasburg, No. 2 Valley, No. 3 La Junta, No. 4 Sterling, No. 5 Eaton, No. 6 Lamar, No. 7 Skyline, No. 8 Burlington, No. 9 Cedaredge, No. 10 Brush, No. 11 Rocky Ford, No. 12 Basalt.
A complete schedule for the Class 3A regional softball playoffs. All games are Oct. 11, unless noted.
Note that the third game will only be played if the higher-seeded team (Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) loses the second game. The winner of game two and game three will then be the state qualifiers.
If the higher-seeded team wins games number two, game number three will not be play and the two participants in game two will be the state qualifiers.
Fossil Ridge softball is now ranked No. 3 in the 5A poll. (Pam Wagner)
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.
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.
Castle View jumped up to No. 3 in this week’s 5A softball poll. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)
Things remain crazy in Class 5A softball this season. For the first time this season, the No. 1 team in CHSAANow’s rankings stayed put, but five different teams received first-place votes.
It speaks to the season as a whole, where seemingly every week another ranked team is upset.
So while No. 1 Dakota Ridge actually extended the gap its has on No. 2 Brighton this week, things remained shaky behind them. Castle View moved from No. 8 to No. 3, Chaparral went from unranked to No. 5 and Fossil Ridge from No. 9 to No. 7.
Dakota Ridge (six), Brighton, Chaparral, Mountain Range (two) and Fossil Ridge all received first-place votes this week.
The 4A poll continued to be led by Frederick and added Pueblo West (No. 7) and Woodland Park (No. 10).
In 3A, Strasburg extended its stay at No. 1. Cedaredge (No. 7) and Rocky Ford (No. 10) both joined this week.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. Polls are released each Monday.
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.
Is there a clear-cut favorite in Class 5A softball? Three weeks into the season, it doesn’t appear that way.
For the second week in a row, there is a new No. 1-ranked team. Dakota Ridge takes over atop CHSAANow.com’s poll, and follows Legacy (preseason) and Brighton (last week) as top teams in the classification.
The Eagles are 7-2-0 this season and went 2-1 last week with wins over Castle View and Erie. Dakota Ridge also beat Legend earlier this season, but did drop a game to Mountain Range last week.
Brighton dropped to No. 2 following a loss to Columbine last week. Legend moved up to No. 3 after going 3-0 last week with wins over Cherokee Trail, Eaglecrest and Grandview.
Mountain Range, meanwhile, moved up to No. 4 from No. 9. Legacy rounds out 5A’s top five teams.
Columbine is the lone newcomer in 5A, joining at No. 10.
Frederick (4A) and Strasburg (3A), the other two No. 1 teams, stayed the same this week.
4A added Windsor (No. 8) this week, while 3A added Brush (No. 9) and Skyline (No. 10).
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. Polls are released each Monday.
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.
