BROOMFIELD — ThunderRidge, seeded No. 21 in the Class 5A girls soccer tournament, upset No. 12 Legacy on Tuesday night.
Kayla Hill and Riley Welch scored eight minutes apart in the first half. Welch also had an assist.
Kelsey Killean scored for Legacy.
HIGHLANDS RANCH — Rocky Mountain beat ThunderRidge 9-7 on Monday, giving the Lobos a crucial late-season win that could help secure a district hosting seed when the pairings on released on Wednesday.
ThunderRidge led 6-0 after the second inning, but Rocky Mountain rallied — including a six-run fourth — for the win.
For the second consecutive week, there’s a new team atop CHSAANow.com’s Class 5A baseball ranking. This time, Regis Jesuit has ascended to the top.
The Raiders, now 14-3, went 3-0 last week — including a 7-5 win over then-No. 6 ThunderRidge. They are now 9-0 in the always tough Continental League, and are riding an 11-game winning streak.
Fairview actually received the same amount of first-place votes (six) that Regis Jesuit did, but remained at No. 2 with 125 overall points to the Raiders’ 137. The Knights are now 16-1 — 13-0 against in-state teams.
Columbine stayed at No. 3 after going 2-1 last week. Included was a 12-6 win over Chatfield, which at the time was ranked No. 1. But the Rebels also dropped a game to Arvada West, which had an amazing week with wins over the Nos. 1, 3 and 8 teams.
Arvada West jumped into the rankings at No. 6, just behind No. 5 Chatfield and No. 4 Mountain Vista.
ThunderRidge dropped to No. 7, Rocky Mountain is No. 8 and Chaparral is No. 9. Cherry Creek rejoined the poll at No. 10.
There are also new teams atop the 3A and 2A polls. In 3A, Eaton received nine of the 10 first-place votes to overtake Holy Family, which dropped to No. 2. In 2A, Resurrection Christian got five of the seven first-place votes and took over for Swink, which also fell to No. 2.
Windsor retained its spot atop the 4A ranking, and Stratton held firm atop 1A.
The 4A poll added Pueblo East at No. 9, and also saw Lewis-Palmer move from No. 5 to No. 3, and Evergreen go from No. 7 to No. 4.
3A added Bayfield (No. 8), while 2A added Limon (No. 9) and Lyons (No. 10).
With the regular season ending Tuesday, these rankings will serve as the final poll of the regular season.
Complete rankings for all classes are below.
[divider]
Voted upon by coaches and media members around the state. These rankings have no bearing on postseason seeding.
Coaches and media members looking to vote should email rcasey@chsaa.org.
| Class 5A | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RK | TEAM | W-L | PTS | PVS | LW |
| 1 | Regis Jesuit (6) | 14-3 | 137 | 4 | 3-0 |
| 2 | Fairview (6) | 16-1 | 125 | 2 | 3-0 |
| 3 | Columbine (2) | 16-1 | 117 | 3 | 2-1 |
| 4 | Mountain Vista | 15-2 | 98 | 5 | 2-1 |
| 5 | Chatfield | 14-2 | 92 | 1 | 1-2 |
| 6 | Arvada West | 12-5 | 62 | – | 3-0 |
| 7 | ThunderRidge (1) | 10-6 | 43 | 6 | 0-3 |
| 8 | Rocky Mountain | 10-5 | 38 | 10 | 3-0 |
| 9 | Chaparral | 11-6 | 30 | 9 | 1-2 |
| 10 | Cherry Creek | 12-4 | 27 | – | 2-0 |
| Others receiving votes: | |||||
| Rock Canyon 22, Arapahoe 15, Ralston Valley 12, Central (G.J.) 3, Douglas County 1, Grand Junction 1. | |||||
| Dropped out | |||||
| Arapahoe (7), Ralston Valley (8). | |||||
| Class 4A | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RK | TEAM | W-L | PTS | PVS | LW |
| 1 | Windsor (8) | 17-1 | 131 | 1 | 3-0 |
| 2 | Montrose (6) | 12-2 | 128 | 2 | 1-0 |
| 3 | Lewis-Palmer | 14-3 | 96 | 5 | 3-0 |
| 4 | Evergreen | 13-2 | 86 | 7 | 3-0 |
| 5 | Wheat Ridge | 13-3 | 79 | 4 | 2-1 |
| 6 | Niwot | 13-3 | 67 | 3 | 1-1 |
| 7 | Valor Christian | 12-5 | 55 | 8 | 3-0 |
| 8 | Delta | 13-2 | 36 | 6 | 1-0 |
| 9 | Pueblo East | 12-4 | 27 | – | 2-0 |
| 10 | Longmont | 12-4 | 19 | 10 | 3-0 |
| Others receiving votes: | |||||
| Durango 15, Elizabeth 11, Ponderosa 7, Mesa Ridge 6, Palmer Ridge 6, Pueblo Centennial 1. | |||||
| Dropped out | |||||
| Palmer Ridge (9). | |||||
| Class 3A | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RK | TEAM | W-L | PTS | PVS | LW |
| 1 | Eaton (9) | 14-0 | 99 | 2 | 3-0 |
| 2 | Holy Family (1) | 15-1 | 91 | 1 | 2-1 |
| 3 | Faith Christian | 15-2 | 77 | 3 | 2-1 |
| 4 | Lamar | 13-4 | 52 | 4 | 2-1 |
| 5 | Valley | 14-3 | 46 | 7 | 2-1 |
| 6 | The Classical Academy | 13-3 | 39 | 6 | 2-1 |
| 7 | Gunnison | 14-2 | 36 | 8 | 2-1 |
| 8 | Bayfield | 14-3 | 31 | – | 3-0 |
| 9 | University | 13-4 | 26 | 5 | 3-1 |
| 10 | Brush | 10-4 | 21 | 9 | 2-1 |
| Others receiving votes: | |||||
| Cedaredge 15, Sterling 6, Kent Denver 5, St. Mary’s 3, Platte Valley 2, La Junta 1. | |||||
| Dropped out | |||||
| Cedaredge (10). | |||||
| Class 2A | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RK | TEAM | W-L | PTS | PVS | LW |
| 1 | Resurrection Christian (5) | 14-2 | 68 | 2 | 3-0 |
| 2 | Swink (1) | 15-2 | 61 | 1 | 2-2 |
| 3 | Sedgwick County (1) | 16-1 | 56 | 4 | 2-0 |
| 4 | Rye | 15-1 | 53 | 3 | 5-0 |
| 5 | Hotchkiss | 15-3 | 38 | 5 | 4-0 |
| 6 | Peyton | 13-2 | 26 | 7 | 2-0 |
| 7 | Lutheran | 9-8 | 23 | 6 | 3-1 |
| 8 | Kiowa | 10-4 | 17 | 9 | 1-0 |
| 9 | Limon | 10-6 | 12 | – | 2-1 |
| 10 | Lyons | 9-6 | 8 | – | 0-2 |
| Others receiving votes: | |||||
| Rocky Ford 6, Denver Christian 4, Nucla 4, Paonia 4, Byers 2, County Line 2, Wiley 1. | |||||
| Dropped out | |||||
| Byers (8), Denver Christian (10). | |||||
| Class 1A | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RK | TEAM | W-L | PTS | PVS | LW |
| 1 | Stratton (4) | 6-3 | 57 | 1 | 1-2 |
| 2 | Granada (2) | 5-2 | 49 | 3 | 2-0 |
| 3 | Eads | 6-8 | 45 | 2 | 1-0 |
| 4 | Caliche | 7-11 | 41 | 5 | 4-3 |
| 5 | Community Christian | 8-7 | 26 | 6 | 2-1 |
| 6 | Elbert | 8-2 | 26 | 4 | 2-0 |
| 7 | Holly | 5-5 | 25 | 8 | 1-1 |
| 8 | Dove Creek | 3-13 | 19 | 10 | 0-2 |
| 9 | Fleming | 5-6 | 17 | 7 | 0-2 |
| 10 | Briggsdale | 7-5 | 13 | 9 | 0-1 |
| Others receiving votes: | |||||
| Cornerstone Christian 8, Cotopaxi 2, Manzanola 2. | |||||
| Dropped out | |||||
| None. | |||||
AURORA — The No. 4-ranked Regis Jesuit baseball team expected nothing less from No. 6 ThunderRidge in Friday’s Continental League showdown.
The Raiders (14-3, 9-0) got all they could handle and then some but managed to keep their league mark unblemished as they took a 7-5 victory.
“We knew it was going to be a dogfight,” Regis left fielder Quin Cotton said, despite ThunderRidge entering the game at 10-5, 5-3 in league.
The Raiders broke a 1-1 tie with a four-run fourth inning, highlighted by Zach Woodruff’s two-run triple.
But the Grizzlies (10-6, 5-4) weren’t about to give in. After scattering four hits through the first five innings, they finally got to Regis starting pitcher Brent Schwarz in the sixth.
Schwarz gave way to reliever David Peterson, who promptly gave up a pair of run-scoring doubles as ThunderRidge tied the game.
At that point, the Grizzlies had the momentum. They kept it going by getting two quick outs on Regis in the bottom of the sixth.
That’s when Woodruff, the No. 9 batter in the Raiders’ lineup, came up. He lined a triple to center field.
“I’m just thinking, there’s no way we’re going 1-2-3,” he said of his mindset as he stepped to the plate.
That set the table for Cotton, who drilled a fastball over the leftfield fence to help the Raiders regain the lead.
“I was just trying to do my job,” Cotton said.
But the Grizzlies refused to go quietly. They loaded the bases with two outs before Peterson induced a ground-out to end the game.
The see-saw battle turned out to be every bit as exciting as a 5A top 10 match-up can be. While it wasn’t a blowout win, it was still the kind of win that any coach would take over a league rival.
“That’s all right,” said Regis coach Matt Darr. “Those are character wins.”
Both teams are back in action Monday as Regis travels south to take on Castle View while the Grizzlies travel to Legend.
AURORA — No. 4 Regis Jesuit baseball pulled away from No. 6 ThunderRidge late in their 5A baseball game on Friday night to take a 7-5 win.
LAKEWOOD — Fort Collins’ girls and Cherry Creek’s boys won the Dakota Ridge Track Invite at Jeffco Stadium on Saturday.
Fort Collins had 178.5 total points on the girls side. Palmer Ridge (81.5 points) was second, while Cherry Creek (78) was third.
Cherry Creek had 128.666 points in winning the boys meet. Palmer Ridge (110 points) finished second and ThunderRidge (103.833) was third.
AURORA — Rocky Mountain’s girls and Grandview’s boys won the Grandview track Invitational on Saturday.
Rocky Mountain finished with a total of 109 points, besting second-place Grandview (94 points) on the girls side. Rampart was third with 65 points.
Grandview’s boys won with 142.5 points, while Arapahoe was second with 75.5. Highlands Ranch was third with 73.
Chatfield, 13-0 to start the 2014 season, has taken over atop this week’s Class 5A baseball poll from CHSAANow.com.
The Chargers moved up from No. 3 and received seven of the 15 first-place votes. They had 131 total points to top the ranking.
A total of six teams got first-place votes, including former No. 1 ThunderRidge, which dropped to No. 6 following its loss to Mountain Vista last week.
Fairview got two of those first-place votes and is No. 2 this week. Columbine, which plays Chatfield on Wednesday, is third, and Regis Jesuit is fourth. Mountain Vista rounds out the top five.
After ThunderRidge, Arapahoe is seventh and Ralston Valley is eighth. Chaparral is No. 9 this week, and Rocky Mountain is No. 10.
The 4A ranking also got a new No. 1 team this week when Windsor overtook Montrose. The Wizards received six of the 13 first-place votes, and had 115 overall points.
Montrose dropped to second this week, and is followed by No. 3 Niwot. Wheat Ridge bumped up one place to No. 4, while Lewis-Palmer is No. 5 after 3-0 week which included a win over then-No. 10 Palmer Ridge on Saturday.
Longmont is the lone newcomer to the 4A poll, joining at No. 10.
The other No. 1 teams held firm atop their respective rankings. Holy Family continued to lead 3A, Swink remain atop of 2A and Stratton continued to lead 1A.
Complete rankings for all classes are below.
[divider]
Voted upon by coaches and media members around the state. These rankings have no bearing on postseason seeding.
Coaches and media members looking to vote should email rcasey@chsaa.org.
| Class 5A | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RK | TEAM | W-L | PTS | PVS | LW |
| 1 | Chatfield (7) | 13-0 | 131 | 3 | 2-0 |
| 2 | Fairview (2) | 13-1 | 121 | 4 | 3-0 |
| 3 | Columbine (3) | 14-0 | 116 | 5 | 3-0 |
| 4 | Regis Jesuit (1) | 11-3 | 109 | 2 | 3-0 |
| 5 | Mountain Vista (1) | 13-1 | 105 | 7 | 3-0 |
| 6 | ThunderRidge (1) | 10-3 | 86 | 1 | 2-1 |
| 7 | Arapahoe | 12-2 | 47 | 8 | 3-0 |
| 8 | Ralston Valley | 11-2 | 46 | 6 | 2-1 |
| 9 | Chaparral | 10-4 | 31 | 10 | 3-0 |
| 10 | Rocky Mountain | 7-5 | 21 | 9 | 3-0 |
| Others receiving votes: | |||||
| Cherry Creek 5, Central (G.J.) 3, Monarch 2, Grand Junction 1, Rock Canyon 1. | |||||
| Dropped out | |||||
| None. | |||||
| Class 4A | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RK | TEAM | W-L | PTS | PVS | LW |
| 1 | Windsor (6) | 14-1 | 115 | 3 | 2-0 |
| 2 | Montrose (5) | 11-2 | 106 | 1 | 2-0 |
| 3 | Niwot (1) | 12-2 | 91 | 2 | 2-1 |
| 4 | Wheat Ridge | 11-2 | 81 | 5 | 4-0 |
| 5 | Lewis-Palmer | 11-3 | 72 | 6 | 3-0 |
| 6 | Delta (1) | 12-2 | 52 | 4 | 1-1 |
| 7 | Evergreen | 10-2 | 37 | 9 | 3-0 |
| 8 | Valor Christian | 9-5 | 32 | 8 | 2-0 |
| 9 | Palmer Ridge | 10-4 | 28 | 10 | 2-1 |
| 10 | Longmont | 9-4 | 20 | – | 2-0 |
| Others receiving votes: | |||||
| Pueblo East 18, Pueblo Centennial 13, Mesa Ridge 12, Durango 11, Ponderosa 11, Elizabeth 8, Pueblo South 4, Thomas Jefferson 2, Broomfield 1, Rifle 1. | |||||
| Dropped out | |||||
| Elizabeth (7). | |||||
| Class 3A | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RK | TEAM | W-L | PTS | PVS | LW |
| 1 | Holy Family (5) | 13-0 | 85 | 1 | 1-0 |
| 2 | Eaton (4) | 11-0 | 84 | 2 | 3-0 |
| 3 | Faith Christian | 13-1 | 70 | 3 | 4-0 |
| 4 | Lamar | 11-3 | 53 | 7 | 2-0 |
| 5 | University | 10-3 | 40 | 8 | 3-1 |
| 6 | The Classical Academy | 11-2 | 38 | 10 | 4-0 |
| 7 | Valley | 12-2 | 34 | 5 | 2-1 |
| 8 | Gunnison | 12-1 | 28 | 4 | 2-1 |
| 9 | Brush | 8-3 | 20 | 9 | 1-2 |
| 10 | Cedaredge | 11-1 | 19 | 6 | 0-1 |
| Others receiving votes: | |||||
| Bayfield 18, Alamosa 2, Kent Denver 1, La Junta 1, Platte Valley 1, Sterling 1. | |||||
| Dropped out | |||||
| None. | |||||
| Class 2A | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RK | TEAM | W-L | PTS | PVS | LW |
| 1 | Swink (3) | 13-0 | 56 | 1 | 4-0 |
| 2 | Resurrection Christian (2) | 11-2 | 53 | 3 | 3-0 |
| 3 | Rye (1) | 10-1 | 51 | 2 | 1-0 |
| 4 | Sedgwick County | 14-1 | 40 | 6 | 7-0 |
| 5 | Hotchkiss | 11-3 | 35 | 4 | 0-1 |
| 6 | Lutheran | 6-7 | 24 | 7 | 1-3 |
| 7 | Peyton | 11-2 | 18 | 5 | 2-1 |
| 8 | Byers | 4-2 | 13 | – | 2-1 |
| 9 | Kiowa | 9-4 | 12 | 8 | 2-1 |
| 10 | Denver Christian | 7-5 | 11 | 10 | 3-2 |
| Others receiving votes: | |||||
| Limon 10, Lyons 4, Rocky Ford 4, Nucla 1. | |||||
| Dropped out | |||||
| Limon (9). | |||||
| Class 1A | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RK | TEAM | W-L | PTS | PVS | LW |
| 1 | Stratton (3) | 5-1 | 46 | 1 | 0-0 |
| 2 | Eads | 5-8 | 37 | 5 | 1-1 |
| 3 | Granada (1) | 3-2 | 33 | 2 | 0-0 |
| 4 | Elbert (1) | 6-2 | 31 | 3 | 1-1 |
| 5 | Caliche | 3-8 | 30 | 4 | -2-2 |
| 6 | Community Christian | 6-6 | 24 | 7 | 1-1 |
| 7 | Fleming | 5-4 | 18 | 9 | 2-1 |
| 8 | Holly | 4-4 | 17 | – | 1-0 |
| 9 | Briggsdale | 7-4 | 13 | 6 | 2-0 |
| 10 | Dove Creek | 3-11 | 11 | 10 | 1-3 |
| Others receiving votes: | |||||
| Cornerstone Christian 9, Peetz 5, Cotopaxi 2, Manzanola 1. | |||||
| Dropped out | |||||
| Peetz (8). | |||||
HIGHLANDS RANCH — This was an old-fashioned pitchers’ duel.
It ultimately came down to one inning — in effect, one pitch.
Nick Leonard got the best of Wednesday’s duel as he outlasted ThunderRidge’s AJ Jones to help his Mountain Vista team defeat the Grizzlies 3-0.
The win was significant for the Golden Eagles. First, it was on the Grizzlies’ home field. Second, it helped Mountain Vista maintain a perfect Continental League record at 4-0 (11-1 overall) and handed ThunderRidge its first league loss (3-1, 8-3).
And, finally, it meant No. 7 Mountain Vista had knocked off the defending Class 5A champion Grizzlies, currently the No. 1 team in the state.
But perhaps more important for Leonard, it helped him avenge a loss to the Grizzlies in last year’s playoffs.
“They got to me for seven runs (in the playoff game),” Leonard said. “I don’t think I even made it out of the first inning.”
He and Jones were the men in the spotlight on Wednesday. At one point, the two combined to retire 20 straight batters.
Jones gave up four hits and struck out eight.
“That was a phenomenal performance by him,” Leonard said, tipping his cap to his counterpart.
But Leonard was even more dominant. Leonard, who is headed to Washington State this fall on a scholarship, recorded 13 strikeouts, including the final out.
The teams were scoreless through the first five innings. Leonard wasn’t worried.
“I had no doubt in these guys,” he said of believing his teammates would eventually produce at the plate.
Jones’ difficulty came in the top of the sixth. Although he only walked four batters, two of them came to lead off the inning. With one out, he then intentionally walked a batter to load the bases and set up a potential double-play ball. That set the table for Michael Dunnebecke.
“I was thinking, put the ball in play,” Dunnebecke said of his thought process of having the bases loaded in a scoreless game.
He did, hitting the left-centerfield cap for a run-scoring triple for the only runs the Golden Eagles needed.
Mountain Vista coach Ron Quintana was elated to escape the Grizzlies’ field with the victory.
“That was a great high school game,” he said. “It shows that one game in our league is huge.”
Dunnebecke got the key hit, but he passed out the compliments.
“This shows how good of a team we are,” he said.
HIGHLANDS RANCH — Seventh-ranked Mountain Vista upset No. 1 ThunderRidge in 5A baseball on Wednesday.