5A Softball: Broomfield Earns First State Title

AURORA — The last stop of a Saturday rollercoaster ride at the Aurora Sports Park came with a Class 5A state championship trophy for the Broomfield softball team.

First, the top-seeded Eagles — who came into the tournament favored — had to survive an upset bid from fifth-seeded Eaglecrest in the semifinals just to reach the title game, then they found itself themselves a see-saw afternoon battle with sixth-seeded Legend with the state championship on the line.

Up four runs early, then down two in the middle of the game, Broomfield exploded for 11 runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to earn the program’s first-ever state softball title with a 17-7 walkoff (by run rule) victory. The Eagles ended the season undefeated against Colorado teams and 26-2 overall.

“That’s baseball, that’s softball, you can’t get too high and you can’t get too low, you just have to keep playing,” Broomfield coach Kale Gilmore said. “What a special group of girls. Adversity didn’t bother them today and I’m not surprised. They are a senior group. They’re smart, tough and gritty and they found a way.”

The senior experience of Broomfield’s roster certainly helped it eliminate any carryover from the semifinal battle with Eaglecrest — which took the Eagles to nine innings before they won on a sacrifice fly from senior Lilly Smith — and focus on Legend, which knocked off No. 2 Cherokee Trail in the semifinals and came in searching for its first state title since 2021 and fourth all-time.

Broomfield put up four runs in the first two frames against Titans starter Maddie Kessel as Smith knocked in Myah Becker twice to give a nice cushion to standout senior starting pitcher Ireland Heer.

Heer navigated the first three innings unscathed, but the fourth was a different story as Legend sent 11 hitters to the plate and scored six times for a 6-4 lead. A throwing error allowed two runs to score for the Titans, who also got two-run hits in the rally from Reese Bryant and Kessel.

Broomfield got one back on a double from senior Kiley Wheaton, who came all the way around to score on an overthrow, but Legend restored its two-run advantage with a run-scoring single from Lucy Thompson (who was 4-for-4) to set up what turned out to be the decisive fifth inning.

It started with a hit-by-pitch to get senior Lauren Martinez on base and it lasted for a stunning 16 hitters, ending with a second RBI-single of the frame by senior Serenity Molloy that ignited a dogpile in the center of the diamond.

“Our offense is so good, we just feel like we have no doubt,” said senior Avery Gines, who drove in three runs in the final inning with a double and single. “We know our bats are going to come back and get us right back into the game. …That was definitely the craziest inning we’ve had and I’m glad it came in this game.”

It was certainly an emotional finish to the season for a Broomfield team that had its championship hopes dashed in a heartbreaking one-run semifinal loss last season and had put its heart and soul into breaking the program’s championship drought.

“I don’t know what to say, I’m speechless,” said Heer through tears of joy afterwards. “I’m super excited because I know we worked super hard for this moment. …We do it for each other. We’re really all for one and that’s how we did this.”