NIWOT — Mark Ramirez scored two goals as the 5th-seeded Niwot Cougars beat the 28th-seeded Skyview Wolverines 4-1 on Wednesday in the first round of the Class 4A boys soccer state tournament.
The Cougars got their first goal from Terin Tadewald on a blatant hand-ball by a Skyview defender that kept the ball out of the net on a corner kick. Ramirez scored the next two goals, and Justin Barkow added one in the second half.
Jose Martinez scored Skyline’s lone goal.
Niwot moves on to the second round where they’ll face the winner of Centaurus and Standley Lake.
Castle View took a 11-1 victory over Pine Creek in five innings against Pine Creek to open its Class 5A state tournament run Friday at Aurora Sports Park. More photos. (Dennis Pleuss)
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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Class 4A tournament
D’Evelyn senior pitcher Megan McGinley throws to the plate during the Jaguars’ first-round game against Class 4A’s top-seed Frederick on Friday at Aurora Sports Park. More photos. (Dennis Pleuss)
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.
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.
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.
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.
Kent Denver’s team gathers on the podium and celebrates their 4A tennis title. (Zach Marburger/CHSAANow.com)
PUEBLO — Mother Nature may not have cooperated, but nothing could put a damper on the smiles of Kent Denver’s boys tennis team this weekend.
Ignoring the ugly weather and holding off a surging Colorado Academy squad, Kent Denver captured its second straight Class 4A boys tennis championship Saturday at Pueblo City Park.
Heavy rain Friday caused major delays and forced the tournament to run late into Saturday afternoon, setting up a tension-filled final few hours for Kent Denver head coach Randy Ross.
“Are you sure we got it?” asked Ross in the waning minutes of championship action. “I’m very excited obviously. This is what we work for and play for. It’s great that it turned out to be such a close margin actually. It’s great for high school tennis. We had a lot of good battles out there today. It was fun.”
Kent Denver finished with a total score of 86. Colorado Academy finished in second with 78 total points. Find complete 4A results here.
Both squads captured three individual championships Saturday. For Kent Denver, it was their dominance in doubles that secured the overall team victory. Duo Andrew Thompson and Travis Rase won the No. 3 doubles bracket, brothers Blake Parsons and Drew Parsons came out on top in No. 2 doubles, and Kevin Adams and Niko Hereford won the No. 1 doubles bracket.
Colorado Academy’s Fletcher Kerr and Noah Forman won the No. 2 and No. 3 singles bracket, respectively. John Barron and Tyler Fairbain also added a championship to Colorado Academy’s tally in No. 4 doubles.
In third place with 54 total points was Niwot, thanks in large part to the work of senior Spencer Lang, who defeated Kent Denver’s Willie Gold 6-4, 6-2 to capture the No. 1 singles championship.
For Lang, who came in third in last year’s No. 1 singles bracket, it was a taste of redemption in the final tennis match of his high school career.
“Last year was really heartbreaking. It really wanted it,” said Lang after his victory. “Coming into this match I was pretty nervous. Last high school match. I’ve had this goal for a very long time and I just wanted to control what I could control.”
What Lang controlled over and over again was his powerful serve, though after the match said the biggest key was his ability to stay away from opponent Gold’s strength.
“My serve was really good today. Probably the best it’s been all tournament,” said Lang. “I thought I was really good coming in, catching with my volleys, not letting him dictate. I know he (Gold) has a really good forehand.”
With the state championship, Lang joins his brother Harrison in the state record books. The elder Lang bother won the No. 1 singles championship for Niwot in 2012.
For state champion Kent Denver and Ross, Saturday was the culmination of a season in which they knew they had a target on their backs. According to Ross, his team of veterans didn’t mind one bit.
“We knew this would be a good year for us, but so did everybody else in the world,” said Ross. “Therefore, every time they played us, they brought their best tennis, and that’s good. It made my guys live up to their reputation.”
The championship is Kent Denver’s fourth title since 2008, and Ross’ seventh overall. Thanks to the wacky weather and dramatic finish, Ross believes that this year’s title is particularly memorable.
“Yesterday was a challenging day, just sitting around the hotel and trying to keep the boys from doing anything they weren’t supposed to do,” said Ross with a laugh. “But it was a great evening last night, playing under the lights.
“This was a memorable tournament. People are going to be talking about this one for years. This tournament here brings out the best in a lot of people. I love this place. I love this tournament.”
Near-constant rain forced a long delay in the Class 4A boys tennis state tournament for the second day in a row.
Thursday, it was 5-hour, 42-minute delay. Friday blew that out of the, um, water.
Play didn’t start until 6:18 p.m. because of wet courts — amounting to a delay of nine hours and 18 minutes. It ultimately was split into two sites, with No. 4 and No. 3 doubles playing at least one round at Pueblo Centennial High School. Play didn’t finish until 11 p.m. on Friday.
(Bethany Brookens/CHSAANow.com)
But everyone powered through — players, coaches, officials, tournament directors, parents, volunteers. It meant that the tournament, which was looking at potentially finishing on Sunday, got back on track and finished play through the quarterfinals.
Semifinals are scheduled for 9 a.m. Saturday. Playbacks will immediately follow. If all goes smoothly, finals and the third- and fourth-place matches will take place later Saturday.
After Day 2, Colorado Academy and Kent Denver are tied for the team lead with 21 points apiece. Niwot is in third with 17. Mullen and Air Academy each have 12 points, and are tied for fourth place.
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.
