Tie-breaker decides Class 4A Jeffco League softball champion
GOLDEN — The victory went to Golden, but the Class 4A Jeffco League softball title went to D’Evelyn when all the numbers were crunched Friday afternoon at Golden High School.
The Demons took a 4-3 victory in the regular-season and league finale, but the Jaguars were awarded the 4A Jeffco League plaque after the third tie-breaker decided the conference champion.
“It was a great game. Great rivals,” D’Evelyn coach Dan Porreco said of D’Evelyn and Golden who has combined to win the past four 4A Jeffco League softball crowns. “Hopefully we can both do well in playoffs.”
Golden and D’Evelyn both finished with 11-1 league records. They split their two head-to-head match-ups and both games were decided by one-run … so the third tie-breaker in the Jeffco League softball guidelines is ‘runs allowed in all league games’. D’Evelyn (19-4, 11-1) allowed 13 runs while Golden (18-5, 11-1) allowed 27 runs.
“I didn’t want to win (league) like that. It will affect us for next week with seeding,” Porreco said of the loss that ended the Jaguars’ 10-game winning streak. “We were hoping to win here to win league outright and think about hosting a regional. There is still a possibility. We’ll see.”
The Jaguars and Demons now wait to see where they will be heading for regionals scheduled for Oct. 17 and 18 next week. CHSAA is scheduled to release the regional brackets Monday, Oct. 13.
Before games Friday, D’Evelyn was No. 12 and Golden was No. 16 in the CHSAA Selection & Seeding Index.
“This is a tough win because it feels like we lost,” Golden coach Steph Martinez said. “At the end of the day, we knew it was going to be a battle. Honestly, this win helps us more for next week. Next week is more important.”
The top-8 seeds in 4A will host 4-team tournaments next week with two teams out of each site advancing to the 16-team state tournament scheduled for Friday and Saturday, Oct. 24 and 25 at Aurora Sports Park.
Golden was in position to win both the game and the league title holding a 4-2 lead going into the top of the seventh inning. The Demons’ 3-run fourth inning that included a solo home run by senior AD Riddle and two-run blast by senior Molli Nath gave Golden a 2-run lead it needed to win the ‘runs allowed in head-to-head games’ with D’Evelyn.
However, D’Evelyn junior Lyla Nagy spoiled the Demons’ hopes of repeating as league champions. Nagy led off the seventh inning with a single. She advanced to second on a wild pitch by Riddle and took third on a ground out.
With one out and Nagy at third, Golden brought its infield in to attempt to cutdown the run at the plate. D’Evelyn senior Nava Basquez hit a hard grounder to shortstop, but Nagy beat the throw to the plate to cut Golden’s lead to 4-3.
“I honestly was really nervous in the last inning,” said Nagy, who admitted that she knew her run would likely give the Jaguars the league title.
It’s the second softball league title for D’Evelyn. The Jaguars won the 4A Jeffco title back in 2023.
“It was definitely hard going into the game with so much pressure, but at the end of the day we played well,” Nath said of the Demons. “There was nothing we could do about that last run.”
The win will help Golden when it comes to getting a higher seed for the postseason.
“I feel like we’ll definitely take this win, take this energy and bring it to regionals,” Nath said. “We’ll ball out in playoffs.”
