Legend claims 5A softball championship, school’s first title in any sport
AURORA — Legend’s bats were hot all weekend, and they stayed that way during Saturday’s championship game.
As a result, the Titans are champions of Class 5A softball following a 9-3 win over Fossil Ridge. It is the first team title in any sport for the school, which opened in 2008.
“It feels like such a dream come true and just doing it for our school was amazing,” Legend junior Payton Lincavage said after the game.
Legend, the No. 10 seed at the state tournament, scored 38 runs in four games, including a 10-6 victory over Legacy in the semifinals earlier Saturday when the Titans hit three home runs — two by Lincavage.
In the title game, the Titans’ Hailee Swanson gave her team a 1-0 lead with an RBI single in the first inning. They would hold that lead through to the fifth, when their lineup broke the game open.
Cailey Oldemeyer and Lincavage strung together back-to-back RBI singles to make it 3-0, and then Alyssa Nunn had perhaps the game’s biggest hit with a two-RBI triple that made it 5-0.
Legend junior Zoey LeCompte, the game’s starting pitcher, added a two-RBI single of her own. That made it 7-0. Breathing room.
“It really got us going and got us on top and really shut them down for the rest of the game, and I think that’s what won it for us,” Lincavage said.
Added coach Kristen Shirk: “It kind of allowed us to just relax and be a little looser, and give us some room, some wiggle room.”
But Fossil Ridge had a potent offense of its own and wouldn’t go away quietly. The Sabercats had earlier hit five home runs in a 20-16 win over Eaglecrest in the semifinals.
In the bottom of the fifth, Fossil Ridge cut it to 7-3, including a two-run home run from Mia Moddelmog, her second of the day.
Legend, though, responded with a run in the top of the sixth, and the top of the seventh.
The title was theirs.
“In the beginning of the year, a lot of people were doubting us,” LeCompte said. “No one even thought we were going to be good this year, and we came back and won it all.”
Lincavage finished 2-for-5, while Olivia Bradley also had an RBI.
LeCompte pitched a solid 4 2/3 innings in the title game, after going 6 2/3 in the semifinals.
Legend finished the season 18-8. At one point in early September, they were 2-5.
But during state championship weekend, “It all came together,” Shirk said.
“The girls worked their butts off all year, and we had some uglies,” the coach added, “but this weekend, we were good.”
