Columbine senior Nina Vargas belts her state-leading 12th home run against A-West

LITTLETON — On Senior Day at Dave Sanders Memorial Field, Columbine’s softball turned to a sophomore to settle down to get a key Class 5A Jeffco League victory.

Arvada West jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the top of the third inning after back-to-back home runs by seniors Makinzi Gallegos and Morgan Farr. Columbine sophomore Addison Swenby came in relief in the circle for starting junior pitcher Shalee Trujillo after the home runs. 

Swenby preceded to shut out the Wildcats through 4 and 2/3 innings, giving up just one hit. Columbine flipped its offensive switch to score seven unanswered runs to take a 8-4 victory.

“I look at it as pitching depth,” Columbine coach Jim Santaniello said of going to Swenby in the third inning. “We just came off of a tough loss and we really stressed the importance of needing everybody on the roster.”

Lakewood (14-4, 6-1 in league) handed Columbine (13-5, 6-1) its first conference loss Thursday. The Tigers took a 15-8 victory where Lakewood bashed 13 hits in the home victory.

The danger of suffering back-to-back losses was real until Swenby calmed things down.

“Nervous are definitely a part, but I just try to stay cool,” Swenby said about coming to pitch in relief. “Having the trust in my coaches makes it easier.”

Swenby struck out eight and lowered her ERA to 3.64. The sophomore has a 4-1 record in the circle this season.

“Her growth this year has been tremendous,” Santaniello said Swenby. “She did an outstanding job today.”

Columbine offense hit the gas in the middle innings against A-West (11-5, 2-5). The Rebels tied things up 4-4 with a 3-run bottom of the third inning. Senior Liv Keiter walked to lead off the inning. The future University of Alabama product stole second and third before scoring on a sacrifice fly by senior Ivy Ryan.

Senior Mason Abraham blasted her fifth home run of the season to cut A-West’s lead to 4-3. Swenby then helped herself out with an RBI single to drive in senior Nina Vargas to tie things up at 4-4 heading to the fourth inning.

“In our line-up our power and scoring can come from different parts of our line-up,” Santaniello said. “All the girls have to believe that. Every girl is important. We just fought at clawed to win this one.”

The Rebels took the lead when courtesy runner Ava Kyle scored on a throwing error. With the bases loaded in the fourth inning, Vargas — who hit her 12th home run of the season in the second inning — hit a sacrifice fly that scored junior Melanie Newcomb. A pair of throwing errors on the play allowed Keiter and Abraham to score to extend the lead to 8-4.

“It is situational hitting which is very important,” Vargas said of her sacrifice fly to right field that ended up scoring three runs. “I was looking for an outside pitch and just take it the other way. It just happened to score three runs.”

Vargas leads the state in home runs with her dozen dingers. The senior hit a home run against Ralston Valley on Sept. 17 which is believed to be the longest home run ever at Dave Sanders Memorial Field. Vargas had a home run that cleared the second fence and landed in the tennis courts beyond left field. It was estimated to be 285-feet.

“I believe in our hitting. Our hitting is definitely our strong suit,” Swenby said of the Rebels’ offense that is averaging over 10 runs per game. “Our fielding isn’t much further behind.”

Columbine closed out the win with defense. Keiter charged a slow ground ball to shortstop and fired it over to Abraham at first base for the final out. 

The Rebels are currently tied atop the 5A Jeffco League standings with Lakewood, but the Tigers have the tiebreaker with the head-to-head win. The two will meet up again in both teams’ conference finale Friday, Oct. 10, on the Rebels’ home field.

“We are ‘take care of your own business’ team,” Santaniello said of the race for the conference title that looks like it will come down to Columbine, Lakewood and Valor (11-7, 5-2). “Every team wants to beat Columbine. Every team wants to win league games. You have to have the mentality that you can’t look ahead.”