No. 9 Chatfield softball knocks off No. 2 Columbine

LITTLETON — The momentum swung back-and-forth Monday on the softball diamond at Dave Sanders Memorial Field.

A pitchers’ duel between seniors — Karlie Cooledge (Chatfield) and Liz Phillips (Columbine) — turned into an offensive punch and counter-punch affair in the final innings. Eventually, Chatfield took a huge 5-3 road victory in the Class 5A Jeffco League game.

“It’s a big win for us,” Chatfield coach Darin Shepard said. “It’s a tough league. We have five (league games) more to go.”

Columbine — No. 2 in the CHSAA Selection & Seeding Index to begin the week — fell two games back in the race for the 5A Jeffco League title after its second conference defeat. The Rebels (14-4, 0-2 in 5A Jeffco) loss to No. 1 Arvada West last week in their league opener.

No. 9 Chatfield (11-6, 2-0) started league play last week with a dominating 15-5 victory over Bear Creek. The Chargers sit atop of 5A Jeffco standings with A-West (15-2, 2-0) and Valor Christian (11-6, 2-0) early into conference play.

“It is huge. I told the girls this wasn’t a defining game no matter what happened, win or lose,” Shepard said. “It was defintely nice to come here and win. Columbine is a great team.”

Both Cooledge and Phillips were cruising on the mound through the first four innings. The Chargers finally broke through with a 3-run top of the fifth inning. Two-out RBI hits by seniors Aubrey Henshaw and Klara Van Beuge gave Chatfield the 3-0 lead.

“I defintely had butterflies at the beginning of the game,” said Cooledge, who actually had a no-hitter through five innings. “I knew this would be a big one for us. I had all the faith in my team that we would come together. It was defintely a team effort. It was a great game.”

Columbine — defending 5A Jeffco League and 5A state champs — punched back with a 3-run bottom of the sixth inning to tie things up going to the seventh inning. Sophomore Livi Keiter had an RBI single and senior Addie Branch ripped a 2-run home run to get the Rebels even with the Chargers.

“I just told her we got this,” Chatfield catcher Lexie Balfanz said about her message to Cooledge during Columbine’s sixth-inning rally. “I trust her so much. I trust this team so much.”

Cooledge actually walked the bases loaded after Branch’s home run, but she got a strikeout of Phillips to finally end the inning.

“I was going to make the change, but she is my senior,” Shepard said of his move to keep Cooledge in the circle despite giving up three runs and walking the bases loaded. “I was going to let her work her way out of it win or lose.”

Chatfield responded in the top of the seventh inning with its own 2-out rally. Balfanz’s drove a 2-run double to deep centerfield to score Henshaw and Van Buege to give the lead back to the Chargers.

“I was looking for one pitch. It just happened to be that one pitch,” Balfanz said of her eventual game-winning 2-run double. “It felt great coming off the bat. It felt good to help my team.”

Columbine junior Katie Forbes started off the bottom of the seventh inning with a single, but a strikeout and a pair of pop outs ended the game.

Chatfield is back on the field Wednesday in another road game against another rival. The Chargers face Dakota Ridge (3-14, 0-2) before a pair of monster league games against Valor (Sept. 25) and A-West (Sept. 27) next week.

The Rebels will try to regroup and get their first league win at home against Lakewood (7-8, 0-2) on Wednesday.