Wild Card points help determine the postseason fields in 3A, 4A and 5A, with 4A and 5A also using them for seeding. Find a more detailed breakdown here.
Baseball’s Wild Card point standings for April 2 are below.
Chatfield joined the 5A baseball ranking at No. 6 this week. (Pam Wagner)
Just as seemingly the entire classification heads out of state for spring break tournaments, the Class 5A baseball rankings got a facelift. Four new teams joined CHSAANow.com’s poll this week, and others made big jumps.
Chatfield (No. 6), Columbine (No. 7), Arapahoe (No. 8) and Fairview (No. 10) all joined the 5A poll. The teams are a combined 11-1 to start the season.
ThunderRidge continued to lead that 5A poll, following an 8-7 win over then-No. 3 Grandview at Coors Field last week.
No. 2 Rocky Mountain also got a win at Coors Field last week, beating then-No. 7 Chaparral. The Lobos stayed put in second. Behind them, though, the change started.
Ralston Valley moved up three places from No. 6 to No. 3, and Regis Jesuit bumped up one spot to No. 4. Grandview rounds out the top five.
Three of the four newcomers are next, and then Cherry Creek is No. 9 after a tough 0-2 week. Fairview rounds up the top 10.
The change didn’t stop with 5A. In 4A, Montrose took over the top spot following its win over Valor Christian on Friday. Valor, last week’s No. 1 team, fell to No. 3. Windsor, 5-0 to start the season, is No. 2.
The 4A ranking added No. 7 Delta, No. 8 Niwot and No. 9 Palmer Ridge this week.
The No. 1 teams stayed the same in 3A (Holy Family), 2A (Resurrection Christian) and 1A (Stratton).
The 3A poll added No. 7 University and No. 8 The Classical Academy.
Teams Nos. 8-10 are all new in 2A: Peyton, Hotchkiss and Ignacio.
The lone newcomer to the 1A ranking was No. 9 Weldon Valley.
Because of the large number of out-of-state games this week, and thus, a lack of in-state competition, there won’t be new baseball polls until April 7.
Mountain Vista 18, Chaparral 17, Mullen 16, Dakota Ridge 14, Brighton 10, Legend 10, Monarch 6, Grand Junction 5, Fossil Ridge 4, Douglas County 3, Pine Creek 3.
Evergreen 13, Green Mountain 12, D’Evelyn 10, Lewis-Palmer 9, Skyline 8, Canon City 6, Durango 6, Elizabeth 6, Pueblo West 4, Northridge 3, Pueblo Central 3, Conifer 1, Montezuma-Cortez 1, Pueblo South 1.
Valor Christian and Resurrection Christian have risen to the top of their respective baseball rankings this week.
Valor, No. 2 in the Class 4A preseason, bumped up one spot following preseason No. 1 Mountain View’s 1-2 start. The Eagles received seven of the 11 first-place votes and lead this week’s CHSAANow.com ranking. Mountain View slipped to No. 9.
Montrose moved from No. 4 to No. 2, Windsor is now No. 3 and Longmont — which beat Mountain View twice — is No. 4. Air Academy rounds out the top 5.
Falcon (No. 7) and D’Evelyn (No. 8) are newcomers to the 4A poll.
Resurrection Christian, meanwhile, takes over atop 2A. The Cougars got four first-place votes and edged No. 2 Lutheran by four overall points.
Denver Christian, the preseason No. 1 in 2A, dropped to No. 3. That ranking added Front Range Christian at No. 9.
The other No. 1 teams remained the same this week. Those are ThunderRidge (5A), Holy Family (3A) and Stratton (1A).
The 5A poll added No. 9 Dakota Ridge, which beat preseason No. 4 Cherry Creek last weekend.
New to 3A are Valley (No. 7) and Basalt (No. 10). The 1A ranking added No. 9 Dove Creek.
Grand Junction 14, Arapahoe 12, Chatfield 11, Mountain Vista 10, Fairview 7, Pine Creek 6, Columbine 5, Legacy 5, Central (G.J.) 2, Fossil Ridge 1.
Dropped out
Mountain Vista (9).
Class 4A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Valor Christian (7)
1-0
93
2
1-0
2
Montrose (2)
4-0
82
4
3-0
3
Windsor
3-0
72
7
3-0
4
Longmont
2-1
59
9
2-1
5
Air Academy
0-0
47
3
0-0
6
Cheyenne Mountain
0-0
34
8
0-0
7
Falcon
2-0
32
–
2-0
8
D’Evelyn
0-0
27
–
0-0
9
Mountain View (2)
1-2
26
1
1-2
10
Durango
2-2
19
6
2-2
Others receiving votes:
Delta 18, Palmer Ridge 14, Niwot 13, Evergreen 9, Green Mountain 8, Ponderosa 8, Wheat Ridge 8, Thomas Jefferson 7, Pueblo West 6, Frederick 5, Northridge 5, Canon City 4, Pueblo South 4, Pueblo East 3, Skyline 3.
Dropped out
Pueblo West (5), Green Mountain (10).
Class 3A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Holy Family (6)
0-0
69
1
0-0
2
Eaton (1)
1-0
64
2
1-0
3
Faith Christian
1-0
55
3
1-0
4
Lamar
1-0
36
4
1-0
5
Brush
2-0
33
5
0-0
6
Bayfield
4-0
31
9
3-0
7
Valley
4-0
23
–
4-0
8
Kent Denver
0-0
17
7
0-0
9
La Junta
1-2
13
6
1-2
10
Basalt
2-0
7
–
2-0
Others receiving votes:
Bishop Machebeuf 6, Manitou Springs 5, Peak to Peak 5, Bennett 4, Gunnison 4, Olathe 4, St. Mary’s 3, The Classical Academy 3, Platte Valley 2, Cedaredge 1, University 1.
ThunderRidge is the preseason No. 1 in 5A. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)
Defending champions lead CHSAANow.com’s preseason baseball rankings in four of the five classifications heading into the 2014 season.
Those No. 1 teams: ThunderRidge (5A), Mountain View (4A), Holy Family (3A) and Denver Christian (2A). Stratton (1A) is the lone preseason No. 1 to not win a title last season; defending champ Fleming opens at No. 5.
ThunderRidge received 11 of the the 17 first-place votes in the 5A poll, and topped the ranking with 154 overall points. The Grizzlies return a number of key pieces, including shortstop Brody Westmoreland, pitcher/outfielder AJ Jones, pitcher/outfielder Tyler Loptien and infielder Josh Brown.
Regis Jesuit got three first-place votes, and is No. 2. Rocky Mountain is No. 3, Cherry Creek is No. 4 and Grandview rounds out the top five.
Mountain View, No. 1 in 4A, returns the bulk of its team from last season’s title team, including star shortstop and pitcher Adam Baumann.
The rest of the 4A top five includes No. 2 Valor Christian, No. 3 Air Academy, No. 4 Montrose and No. 5 Pueblo West.
Holy Family leads the 3A poll and is followed by No. 2 Eaton, No. 3 Faith Christian, No. 4 Lamar and No. 5 Brush.
In 2A, Denver Christian leads the way. Resurrection Christian is second, and is followed by Lutheran, Las Animas and Paonia.
Stratton is on top of the preseason 1A poll. No. 2 Caliche, No. 3 Elbert, No. 4 Eads and No. 5 Fleming compile the top five.
Fairview 21, Pine Creek 18, Dakota Ridge 14, Chatfield 12, Monarch 12, Legacy 11, Columbine 10, Fossil Ridge 8, Northglenn 8, Cherokee Trail 6, Smoky Hill 6, Arapahoe 5, Rock Canyon 4, Heritage 2, Mullen 2.
Class 4A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Mountain View (10)
0-0
113
–
0-0
2
Valor Christian (2)
0-0
76
–
0-0
3
Air Academy (1)
0-0
58
–
0-0
4
Montrose
0-0
56
–
0-0
5
Pueblo West
0-0
49
–
0-0
6
Durango
0-0
38
–
0-0
7
Windsor
0-0
37
–
0-0
8
Cheyenne Mountain
0-0
34
–
0-0
9
Longmont
0-0
29
–
0-0
10
Green Mountain
0-0
25
–
0-0
Others receiving votes:
Pueblo South 22, Canon City 21, Evergreen 19, D’Evelyn 18, Ponderosa 17, Wheat Ridge 17, Erie 12, Broomfield 11, Palmer Ridge 11, Northridge 10, Mesa Ridge 8, Fort Morgan 7, Falcon 6, Thompson Valley 6, Centaurus 5, Pueblo East 5, Widefield 3, Thomas Jefferson 2, Niwot 1.
Class 3A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Holy Family (7)
0-0
70
–
0-0
2
Eaton
0-0
63
–
0-0
3
Faith Christian
0-0
53
–
0-0
4
Lamar
0-0
42
–
0-0
5
Brush
0-0
33
–
0-0
6
La Junta
0-0
27
–
0-0
7
Kent Denver
0-0
18
–
0-0
8
Olathe
0-0
15
–
0-0
9
Bayfield
0-0
12
–
0-0
10
Bennett
0-0
10
–
0-0
Others receiving votes:
Basalt 7, Peak to Peak 7, Manitou Springs 5, The Classical Academy 5, St. Mary’s 4, Sterling 4, Valley 4, Platte Valley 2, Strasburg 2, Trinidad 2, Gunnison 1.
Class 2A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Denver Christian (3)
0-0
57
–
0-0
2
Resurrection Christian (2)
0-0
49
–
0-0
3
Lutheran (1)
0-0
44
–
0-0
4
Las Animas
0-0
34
–
0-0
5
Paonia
0-0
26
–
0-0
6
Swink
0-0
23
–
0-0
7
Holyoke
0-0
21
–
0-0
8
Rye
0-0
19
–
0-0
9
Kiowa
0-0
18
–
0-0
10
Limon
0-0
17
–
0-0
Others receiving votes:
Yuma 7, Peyton 6, Front Range Christian 3, Byers 2, Sargent 2, Burlington 1, Del Norte 1.
Class 1A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Stratton (4)
0-0
53
–
0-0
2
Caliche (1)
0-0
43
–
0-0
3
Elbert
0-0
40
–
0-0
4
Eads
0-0
36
–
0-0
5
Fleming
0-0
32
–
0-0
6
Granada
0-0
30
–
0-0
7
Holly
0-0
28
–
0-0
8
Community Christian (1)
0-0
20
–
0-0
9
Baca County
0-0
13
–
0-0
10
Cheyenne Wells
0-0
11
–
0-0
Others receiving votes:
Dove Creek 7, Briggsdale 6, Peetz 4, Pawnee 3, Walsh 2, Cotopaxi 1, Weldon Valley 1.
Aurora Sports Park sits quiet prior to Saturday’s action. More photos. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com) A roundup of Saturday’s action at the state softball tournaments at Aurora Sports Park.
AURORA — Fossil Ridge won its first two games at Saturday’s opening rounds of the 5A state softball tournament by a combined score of 29-7. It now finds itself in the semifinals for the first time in school history.
In fact, Fossil Ridge had never even won a game at the state tournament before Saturday.
The third-seeded SaberCats beat No. 14 Pine Creek in the opening round, 10-3, then followed with a 19-4 mercy-rule-shortened win over No. 6 Eaglecrest which ended on Haley Donaldson’s walk-off three-run home run.
Legacy softball coach Dawn Gaffin goes over instructions between innings Saturday afternoon during the Lightning’s 8-1 quarterfinal victory against Dakota Ridge. Legacy, 5-time Class 5A state champion, will face Brighton in the 5A state semifinals 10 a.m. Sunday at Aurora Sports Park. More photos. (Dennis Pleuss)
Fossil Ridge is 22-1 in 2013. The SaberCats’ lone loss this season came to Legacy on Sept. 16. They could get a rematch on Saturday — but first they’ll need to get past No. 7 Legend, another first-timer in the semis.
Legend (19-5) dispatched No. 10 Grandview 13-8 to open the tournament, then beat No. 2 Rock Canyon 6-1 in the quartefinals.
No. 9 Brighton was the lone team to knock off a No. 1 seed on Saturday. The Bulldogs, now 22-2, beat No. 1 Douglas County 8-4 in the quarterfinals. That followed an 11-1 win over No. 8 Loveland, the defending champion.
In the semis, Brighton will get No. 5 Legacy, which beat a pair of Jeffco squads (Chatfield and Dakota Ridge) to earn its seventh consecutive berth into the state tournament semifinals.
No. 12 Chatfield gave Legacy a tough test before the Lightning pulled away in the late innings for a 6-2 win.
“I think we kind of learned from it,” Legacy senior pitcher Haley Smith said. “Our bats were kind of cold at first, but we had everybody set up.”
Legacy used some “small ball” tactics in the third inning against No. 4 Dakota Ridge to score four runs on the way to an 8-1 victory.
Despite the rich tradition of winning five straight 5A state crowns from 2007 to 2011, Smith doesn’t believe Legacy will be nervous going into the semifinals.
“If anything I think there is less pressure because everyone thinks we can’t do it,” Smith said. “We are the underdogs.”
Semifinal games:
(9) Brighton vs. (5) Legacy, 10 a.m.
(3) Fossil Ridge vs. (7) Legend, 10 a.m.
[divider] Broomfield is headed to the semifinals. More photos. (Pam Wagner)
Fifth-seeded Broomfield narrowly survived being No. 13 D’Evelyn’s second upset victim of the day. But the Eagles did survive, and advance, to the 4A semifinals on Sunday.
Broomfield rallied from 2-0 and 4-2 holes to hold on and beat D’Evelyn 7-6 on Saturday. The Eagles had a four-run fifth-inning which led to the win. They will face top-seeded Wheat Ridge in the semifinals.
Wheat Ridge junior Erin Dalton connects with a pitch during the Farmers’ 5-0 win against Roosevelt in the opening round of the Class 4A state softball tournament Saturday at Aurora Sports Park. More photos. (Dennis Pleuss)
Wheat Ridge didn’t have much problem advancing.
The Farmers shut out No. 16 Roosevelt by a 5-0 score in the opening round and cranked out 11 hits in a 9-4 quarterfinal victory against No. 8 Mountain View. Still, Wheat Ridge coach Marty Stricklett said there is “some improving to do” going into the final day of the season.
The Farmers edged Broomfield 2-0 earlier this season. Sophomore Christina Nelson hit a two-run home run in the first inning and senior pitcher Jessica Salbato pitched a shutout against Broomfield back on Aug. 30.
A 1-0 loss to Niwot in the 4A semifinals last year still motivates the Farmers heading into their eighth straight trip to the state semifinals.
“Tomorrow we are still going off what happened last year,” Stricklett said. “We’ve got to show up and play our game. The name of our game is hitting. We’ve got to hit the ball.”
On the other side of the bracket, No. 6 Erie beat No. 11 Silver Creek 11-1 and No. 3 Pueblo East 7-1 to advance to Sunday. The Tigers will face No. 2 Ponderosa, which escaped No. 15 Palmer Ridge’s upset bid, 5-4, to open the tournament, then beat No. 7 Berthoud 6-0 in the quarters.
The four semifinalists at the 3A level each only played one game on Saturday. That’s because Strasburg, Sterling, Holy Family and Valley all had opening-round byes as seeds Nos. 1-4.
Top-seeded Strasburg beat No. 9 Basalt 11-0, and will meet No. 4 Valley, which eeked past No. 5 Eaton 1-0.
In the other semifinal, No. 2 Sterling will meet No. 3 Holy Family. Sterling beat No. 7 Lamar 5-0 and Holy Family beat No. 11 Dolores Huerta 3-0.
