Softball roundup: Fossil Ridge scores a semifinal ticket
A roundup of Saturday’s action at the state softball tournaments at Aurora Sports Park.
Class 5A
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.
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.
Class 4A
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 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.
Semifinal games:
- (1) Wheat Ridge vs. (5) Broomfield, 10 a.m.
- (6) Erie vs. (2) Ponderosa, 10 a.m.
Class 3A
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.
Semifinal games:
- (1) Strasburg vs. (4) Valley, 10 a.m.
- (3) Holy Family vs. (2) Sterling, 10 a.m.
— Reporting from Dennis Pleuss and Ryan Casey.
