Strasburg is the No. 1 team in the preseason 3A softball ranking. (Kelly Thornburg/MVPSportsPics.com)
Grandview, Valor Christian and Strasburg are the No. 1 teams in the preseason CHSAANow.com Softball Polls, which were released on Monday.
Both Grandview (Class 5A) and Valor (4A) are defending champions, while Strasburg was runner-up in 3A last season.
Grandview is atop the 5A ranking with six of the 10 first-place votes, and 84 total points. Fossil Ridge, last season’s runner-up, is No. 2 with one first-place vote and 79 total points.
Broomfield is third in 5A, Eaglecrest is No. 4 and Brighton rounds out the top five.
In 4A, Valor Christian got seven of the nine first-place votes. The Eagles edged Frederick, the team it beat to win 4A last season.
Also in 4A’s top five are No. 3 Erie, No. 4 Wheat Ridge and No. 5 Pueblo West.
Strasburg was a unanimous No. 1 selection in 3A, getting all seven first-place votes. Sterling is No. 2, and defending champion La Junta is No. 3.
Brush is fourth in 3A, while Skyline is No. 5.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. Polls are released each Monday during the regular season.
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.
Chaparral 19, Mountain Range 13, Arvada West 10, Columbine 8, Horizon 8, Cherokee Trail 6, Ralston Valley 6, Chatfield 5, Rock Canyon 3, Regis Jesuit 2, Fort Collins 1, Smoky Hill 1.
Class 4A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
1
Valor Christian (7)
0-0-0
88
2
Frederick (2)
0-0-0
76
3
Erie
0-0-0
62
4
Wheat Ridge
0-0-0
59
5
Pueblo West
0-0-0
35
6
Windsor
0-0-0
34
7
Falcon
0-0-0
26
8
Air Academy
0-0-0
25
9
Mullen
0-0-0
25
10
Niwot
0-0-0
19
Others receiving votes:
Discovery Canyon 16, Berthoud 6, Silver Creek 6, D’Evelyn 4, Ponderosa 4, Vista Ridge 4, Delta 1, Mountain View 1.
Mark Roberts will be the next softball coach at Ponderosa, athletic director Tim Ottmann announced on Wednesday night.
Roberts had been the baseball coach at Douglas County since the 2009 season, but retired this spring.
Mark Roberts, new softball coach at Ponderosa. (Courtesy of Ponderosa HS)
He has a long — and rich — softball history, which includes stints as the head coach at Douglas County (14 seasons), and in college at the Colorado School of Mines (eight seasons). (He was also Douglas County’s baseball coach from 1994-96, and spent three seasons as an assistant at the University of Denver, back when it had baseball.)
As the softball coach at Douglas County from 1991-2004, Roberts won six league titles and the 1994 Class 4A championship.
At Mines, Roberts took the program to its first-ever postseason appearance in 2002.
Over the past seven seasons as the baseball coach at Douglas County, Roberts’ teams went 74-62. That includes a 13-7 mark this spring in which the Huskies reached the district round but lost to eventual champion Rock Canyon.
“Coach Roberts is a legend among softball coaches in Colorado and across the country,” Ottmann said on Wednesday. “He is excited to take over the Mustangs’ softball program, and looks really good in Cardinal and Gold!”
Roberts replaces Tony Tabola at Ponderosa, who was the softball coach for nine seasons. Since 2009, the Mustangs are 97-36. The program has one state title, when Ponderosa won 5A in 1992. The Mustangs also went to the 5A championship game in 1996.
The Mustangs, who advanced to the Class 4A quarterfinals last season, lose first-team all-state pick Ally Power next season. They do return two studs in Peyton Matejka and Kendal Boyum, who will both be juniors.
Matejka hit .397 with three home runs and 10 RBIs last season, while Boyum hit .394 with one home run and a team-high 19 RBIs as a sophomore.
The 2015 baseball players of the year. From left: Jordan Ernst, Dove Creek (1A); Trent Hughes, Rye (2A); Ryan Madden, Fairview (5A); Cole Shetterly, Green Mountain (4A); Lane Greiman, Eaton (3A). (Photos: Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com; Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com; Kai Casey/CHSAANow.com; Pam Wagner/CHSAANow.com)
The 2015 all-state baseball teams honor the best players in the sport as judged by the leagues and coaches. They are presented by CHSAANow.com, ColoradoPreps.com and MaxPreps.
These teams were created following a lengthy process which included nominations from leagues and coaches, and then a vote of coaches. Players had to be first-team all-league in order to be on the all-state ballot.
Players and coaches of the year were also selected by a vote of the coaches.
Fifteen more local products were picked on Wednesday as the MLB Draft concluded on its final day.
Though quiet for the first few rounds on Wednesday, things soon picked up. In consecutive picks in the 23rd round, locals were selected.
Monarch’s Logan Soole went to the Arizona Diamondbacks with the first pick in the 23rd round (No. 676 overall). One selection later, Palmer Ridge alum Steven Leonard was taken by the Colorado Rockies at No. 677 overall.
Mullen alum Sam Haggerty went in the 24th round to Cleveland. Then, Douglas County graduate Tyler Servais was picked by the Detroit Tigers in the 27th round.
Two more went in the 29th round: Mullen alum Seth Davis to the New York Mets at No. 869 overall, and then Ralston Valley graduate Ben Yokley at No. 881 to St. Louis.
A round later, the 30th, Valor Christian alum Greg Popylisen was taken by Minnesota. In the 33rd round, Legacy’s Wyatt Cross was selected by the Rockies. In that same round, Eaglecrest alum Braxton Lorenzini was picked by San Diego.
The Rockies also picked Fairview’s Ryan Madden in the 35th round. Later in that round, Chaparral alum Jordan Serena was selected by the Angels.
In the 37th round, Mountain Vista’s Marc Mumper was selected by the Rockies. Later in the 37th, Regis Jesuit’s Matt Schmidt was picked by the New York Yankees. Two rounds after that, Schmidt’s teammate, Brent Schwarz, was selected by the Rockies.
It brought the three-day draft total to 20 local selections, including five on Tuesday. Of those, six were picked by the Rockies.
Soole, the 2015 graduate who is committed to Southern Illinois, was picked as a center fielder. He hit .518 with 22 RBIs and two home runs last season. He helped lead Monarch to the Final 8.
But Soole didn’t only star at the plate. He was also 6-1 with a 0.77 ERA in 45 2/3 innings, striking out 73 against just 12 walks.
Soole is just the second Monarch player to be selected straight out of high school. John Ray was picked in the 41st round by the Braves in 2003.
Steven Leonard, Palmer Ridge (2011)
A pick after Soole, Leonard went to the Rockies. It was their second local selection of the draft — they also took Rocky Mountain center fielder Cole Anderson in the tenth round.
Leonard, a 2011 Palmer Ridge grad, is now a redshirt sophomore at Campbell University in North Carolina. He spent 2012 and 2013 at Iowa Western Community College, where he helped the Reivers win a national championship.
A catcher, Leonard hit .328 with two home runs and 22 RBIs at Campbell last season.
Sam Haggerty, Mullen (2012)
Haggerty, a second baseman now at New Mexico, went to Cleveland in the 24th round with the No. 724 overall selection.
Haggerty graduated from Mullen in 2012, where he also played basketball.
He just completed his junior season at New Mexico. He hit .311 with a home run and 13 RBI in 29 games, and also stole six bases.
Tyler Servais, Douglas County (2011)
Servais, the Douglas County product who graduated in 2011, was picked by the Tigers in the 27th round. He was also selected out of high school, going in the 36th round to the Rockies.
A senior catcher at Princeton, he hit .200 with a home run and three RBIs this season. Behind the plate, Servais caught 10 of 45 runners attempting to steal.
Seth Davis, Mullen (2011)
Davis, the Mets’ 29th-round pick, graduated from Mullen in 2011. A left-handed pitcher, he is now a senior at Augustana (Ill.).
Last season, he was 5-2 with a 3.70 ERA in 65 2/3 innings. Davis struck out 92 against 12 walks.
Ben Yokley, Ralston Valley (2011)
Yokley also went in the 29th round, to the St. Louis Cardinals. He is a 2011 graduate of Ralston Valley.
The right-handed pitcher just finished his senior season at Air Force, where he was 2-0 with a 3.97 ERA in 34 innings spread out over 27 appearances. Yokley had 45 strikeouts to 25 walks.
Greg Popylisen, Valor Christian (2013)
Popylisen was a 30th-round pick of the Twins. He graduated from Valor Christian in 2013, and has been at El Paso Community College. The sophomore is committed to New Mexico State.
He is the first graduate of Valor Christian to be selected in the MLB Draft.
At Valor, Popylisen starred in both baseball and track. In fact, there was a day during the 4A baseball tournament where he had to hustle from the state track meet, which was going on at the same time a few blocks away, to one of Valor’s games.
Popylisen hit .364 with and 16 RBIs at El Paso last season, and also had 23 steals along with 38 runs scored.
Wyatt Cross, Legacy (2015)
Cross, the Legacy catcher who graduate this spring, became the third local product to be selected by the Rockies in the 33rd round. He is a North Carolina commit.
Though he played behind the plate, Cross didn’t hit at all last season due to a back injury. As a junior, he hit .302 with three home runs and 14 RBIs.
Cross is the third Legacy product to be drafted straight out of high school, following Lucas Gilbreath last season (36th round to the Rockies), and Kevin Walter in 2010 (26th round to the Phillies).
Braxton Lorenzini, Eaglecrest (2013)
Lorenzini, the 2013 Eaglecrest graduate, went to the San Diego Padres in the 33rd round. He is a right-handed pitcher at West Hills (Calif.) who spent a medical redshirt year at Central Christian in Kansas in 2014.
Lorenzini was 1-7 with a save and a 4.30 ERA at West Hills last season.
Ryan Madden, Fairview (2015)
Ryan Madden, left. (Kai Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Madden, a 2015 graduate, added to the long line of draftees for Fairview when the Rockies took him in the 35th round. He became the fifth Knight to be selected straight out of high school.
An Oklahoma commit, Madden starred this season. He was 7-2 with a 1.41 ERA and struck out 65 batters to 10 walks this season.
But Madden also tied for the Class 5A lead with seven home runs at the plate, and hit .446 with 29 RBIs.
Madden had his season end in the district rounds when he took a scary comebacker to his face. He has recovered well, and is pitching again in a summer league.
Jordan Serena, Chaparral (2011)
Serena, the 2011 Chaparral grad, also went in the 35th round. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim selected him.
Last season, Serena, a senior center fielder, hit .319 with two home runs and 23 RBIs. He also stole 21 bases.
Marc Mumper, Mountain Vista (2015)
Mumper, a shortstop who is committed to Grand Canyon (Ariz.), led the Golden Eagles to the 5A Final 4 this season.
The 2015 graduate hit .356 with two home runs and 22 RBIs this season, and was a key figure for Mountain Vista.
Matt Schmidt, Regis Jesuit (2015)
Schmidt graduated from Regis Jesuit this spring. A Texas commit, he was picked by the Yankees in the 37th round.
The third baseman hit .257 with four home runs and 17 RBIs this season.
He was the 13th Raider to be selected straight out of high school.
Brent Schwarz, Regis Jesuit (2015)
Schwarz, a right-handed pitcher, is also a 2015 graduate of Regis Jesuit.
He is committed to Rice. Schwarz was 3-4 with a 1.48 ERA in 52 innings this season. He struck out 65 against 26 walks.
On the heels of Schmidt’s selection, Schwarz became Regis Jesuit’s 14th selection straight from high school. It was the third consecutive draft that Regis has had two players selected.
Craig Gienger will be the next coach of Douglas County baseball. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)
Douglas County has hired Craig Gienger to be the school’s next baseball coach.
The school announced in the move in a press release on Monday.
Gienger, who has been an assistant at Douglas County for the past seven seasons, will take over for Mark Roberts. Roberts retired following the 2015 season after seven years leading the program. He was 74-62 in his time with the Huskies.
“We are very excited to have such a quality individual take over our baseball program,” Douglas County athletic director Jeff Gardella said in a statement. “Not only does he come with a wealth of knowledge and experience, but also has a vision and passion for the game that was so compelling that even my committee members were ready to play for him!
“The vision of using the game of baseball to pour into the lives of his players, as well as his role and responsibility in coaching boys into men, was very exciting to hear. In addition, he is very prideful about being a DC alumni, so having an opportunity to be the next head coach at the school and in the community that provided him with so much, was almost priceless.”
Gienger is a 1989 graduate of the school, where he starred in baseball and also played football and basketball. He was selected three times in the MLB Draft after high school, and was with the Oakland organization from 1992-96 before an injury cut his career short.
After high school, he played at Otero Junior College and then BYU before moving on to minor league baseball.
DENVER — Coming into the girls’ Class 5A state tennis tournament, no Douglas County player had advanced to the semifinals. Clara Larson came in hoping to break that streak, but came up just short. She fell 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 to Mountain Vista’s Casey Zhong in the No. 1 singles bracket.
“I hadn’t really thought about it,” Larson said. “I just wanted to take it one match a time.”
But the saving grace for the Huskies is that no player in recent history has been able to advance to the quarterfinals, a feat she accomplished after a 6-0, 6-0 win over Rock Canyon sophomore Maleeha Chowdhury.
“She played against (Maleeha) during the season and that helped us not be so nervous,” Huskies coach Diane Kosakowski said.
Larson found herself in early trouble in the quarterfinal match after dropping the first set. She was able to battle back and take an early lead in set two, never giving it back. Zhong returned the favor in the third state, grabbing an early lead and not giving up any ground.
For now, the program will have to settle for program victory of returning to the semifinals and having a presence at the state tournament.
“(Now that) it’s over, I’ll probably consider it a victory for the school,” Larson said.
For the Huskies, Larson was far from the only story on the day. Before the tournament had been postponed, it didn’t look like Douglas County’s only other state qualifiers were going to be able to play. Their No. 2 doubles team of Elaine Cox and Sanskriti Sazena are both in the IB program and exams would’ve forced them to withdraw from the tournament.
Last week’s rain came as a bit of a blessing for the duo. With the tournament being pushed back five days, the girls were able to make their tennis schedule work with their exam schedule.
“I had two tests scheduled for Thursday and Friday so we weren’t going to play because school is more important,” Sazena said. “We were lucky that the tournament got postponed because we were able to figure it out.”
Unfortunately, that didn’t mean that they could solely focus their attention on tennis. An exam was moved up so they could take it 6:30 a.m. Monday morning before heading to the Gates Tennis Center for their match, which they lost to Cherry Creek’s Jessie Murphy and Mariela Hollines 6-1, 6-0.
“Before their match they were studying physics,” Kosakowski said. “These are two really smart kids. One is going to Duke (Cox) and the other is going to Berkley (Saznea).”
The duo made it their goal to reach the state tournament and just wanted the opportunity to compete at the event. Although they didn’t advance as far as they would like, they took solace in the fact that they were able to achieve a goal they had set for themselves.
“We really wanted to make it to state since we started freshman year,” Cox said. “Getting the chance to come here and just play a match was really satisfying for us.”
[divider]
Notables
Sibling rivalry
The 5A tournament turned out to be a family affair for the Huskies’ Elaine Cox. Her sister Claire qualified for Ponderosa and advanced to the quarterfinals.
Marathon matches
The day was not short on extended matches. The three longest of the day all went to a tie-break at some point in the match.
Draws for the Class 5A girls tennis state tournament, held May 7-9 at Gates Tennis Center in Denver, are below.
All matches start at 9 a.m. each day. The first two rounds at each position will be played Thursday. Friday morning will be all semifinals, and the playback matches will start immediately afterwards. All third- and fourth-place matches and finals will be at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning.
Should weather intervene, check CHSAANow.com for contingency plans.
These results will be updated throughout the tournament.
For more information on the process for creating these brackets, click here or scroll down.
[divider]
Class 5A girls tennis state tournament
Click on a tab to see that bracket, or team scores.
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Information on the state tournament and draw creation
Only those teams who qualify four or more positions to state are eligible for the CHSAA state team championship title. The bracket creation process is as follows:
All 16 individuals/teams will be considered for placement on the draw.
The top 4 individuals/teams will be placed.
The committee shall consider the following factors (in no particular order of importance): strength of league, overall record, strength of competition, head-to-head competition and common opponents.
The remaining Regional Winners (#1’s) will be randomly drawn for places on the draw.
The Regional Finishers (#2’s) will then be randomly drawn for matches against a Regional Winner.
All Regional Winners will be paired against a Regional Finishers.
No two teams or individuals from the same Region will play each other during the first round of the state championship.
Dakota Ridge junior Caitlin Navratil (10) has a step on Douglas County freshman Skylar Backstrom (11) for a breakaway layup Tuesday night. Navratil scored a season-high 31 points in the Eagles’ 66-51 victory. (Dennis Pleuss)
LITTLETON — Normally the original movie is better than the sequel, but there can be exceptions.
After a 66-51 home victory over Douglas County on Tuesday night in the opening round of the Class 5A girls basketball state tournament, the No. 5-seeded Dakota Ridge Eagles (13-11 record) are eyeing a follow-up to last year’s improbable postseason run.
“I think if we play our game and play together we definitely could make a run again,” Dakota Ridge junior Caitlin Navratil said when asked if the Eagles had another deep playoff run in them. “I believe we can do it.”
Dakota Ridge was a No. 6 seed entering the 5A state tournament last season. The Eagles pulled off three straight playoff victories to become the Cinderella story of last year’s state tournament. The squad overcame first-year head coach Doug Maier resigning in late January.
Dakota Ridge junior Caitlin Navratil (10) drives on Douglas County sophomore Jordan Acosta during the first half Tuesday night. (Dennis Pleuss)
Former junior varsity coach Rich Gavelda took over the reigns and guided the Eagles’ during their postseason success. The Eagles eventually lost to state runner-up Fossil Ridge in the Great 8.
“We’ve worked hard to get there,” Gavelda said after the playoff-opening win Tuesday. “We got the taste last year. Sydney Buchli wasn’t healthy last year. She wants to get there more than any of us and we want to get her there.”
While Buchli wasn’t on the court during Dakota Ridge’s playoff run last year, the senior played a solid supporting role Tuesday night. Buchli poured in 18 points.
The lead and staring role went to Navratil. The Eagles’ 5-foot-3 guard scored a season-high 31 points.
“I felt pretty confident coming in,” said Navratil, who combined with Buchli to score 39 straight points for the Eagles in the middle of the game. “I just knew I had to play my game and shoot my shots. Help my team out. That was my main focus.”
Despite the efforts of Navratil and Buchli, Douglas County closed two within 31-29 two minutes into the second half. The Huskies went on an 8-0 run led by freshman Skylar Backstrom, who finished with a team-high 15 points for Douglas County (7-17).
“(Douglas County) had a little run and we expected them to. Skylar (Backstrom) is a very good shooter for them,” Gavelda said. “They strung together a few, but we overcame them.”
A pair of 3-pointers by Buchli and nine points by Navratil in the third quarter pushed the Eagles’ lead back to double-digits.
“We’ve relied on her (Navratil),” Gavelda said. “She was injured a little in the beginning of January and we kind of had to adjust to life without her. As she has gotten strong and strong, she has been our go-to person offensively and defensively. She is our leader.”
Dakota Ridge junior Becky Holley (23) tries to escape the double-team of Douglas County’s Sierra Stephan and Gabby Haneke during the first-round Class 5A girls basketball state playoff game Tuesday night at Dakota Ridge High School. The Eagles took a 66-51 victory and will face Fossil Ridge in the second round Friday. (Dennis Pleuss)
Senior Jessica Lebaron pitched in 10 points for Dakota Ridge. The young Huskies had sophomore Jordan Acosta (12 points) and junior Clara Larson (11 points) reach double-figures along with Backstrom in the season finale for Douglas County.
Next up for Dakota Ridge is a little shot at revenge. The Eagles travel to Fort Collins on Friday, Feb. 27 to face the team that ended their Cinderella run in 2014 — the Fossil Ridge Sabercats.
“We are very excited to get to play Fossil Ridge on Friday,” Gavelda said. “CHSAA did us a favor I think to give us a very good team. We’ll see what it’s like at their house.”
Navratil is also ready to get another shot at Fossil Ridge. She had 15 points in last year’s 60-50 loss at the Denver Coliseum.
“I want to go get them. I know we all want to go get them because we lost to them last year,” Navratil said. “It’s going to be exciting.”
Dakota Ridge junior Anna Wilkin (3) dribbles into Douglas County’s Jordan Acosta (33) and Olivia Vier (4) during the first-round playoff game Tuesday night at Dakota Ridge High School. The Eagles won 66-51. (Dennis Pleuss)
