(Dan Mohrmann)
EVERGREEN — In the bottom of the seventh inning, Josh Bellatti sat on a fastball and drove it the opposite way, clearing the outfield fence, but in foul territory. When that same pitch came across the plate again, he didn’t miss.
Josh Bellatti’s three-run blast in the bottom of the seventh gave the Evergreen Cougars a 7-4 win over Lewis-Palmer allowing them to claim the 4A District 2 title and move on in the 4A state playoffs.
The win capped off a roller coaster of a game that had the Cougars up 4-0, only to lose the lead in the top half of the seventh and win the game in walk-off fashion. They did it all without their ace pitcher, Brock Burke, who threw seven strong innings in the day’s first game to advance the Cougars to the district title game.
“The team we just beat is a very good team, up and down the lineup,” Cougars coach Dale Hutchings said. “But our guys stayed right with it and pitch-by-pitch, play-by-play they did a great job.”
A 3-1 win over the Air Academy Kadets earlier in the day earned the Cougars the right to play for a chance to move on. The Cougars fell behind early as Air Academy third baseman Jeremy Hockmuth crushed a home run to center field in the first inning. Burke didn’t let that phase him and would go on to strikeout 13 Kadets en route to the win.
“The fastball was working. I kept looking off the curveball, but the fastball was working really well,” Burke said. “I figured (the home run) was a fluke thing and the next time he (Hockmuth) came up I threw three straight fastballs and he didn’t touch one of them.”
The Rangers were dominant themselves in their first game of the day. They found themselves in a pitchers duel with Fort Morgan and their ace Jared Bohm, but after a few adjustments, they were able to start making contact with the ball, grabbing a 3-0 lead on three-straight singles in the fourth inning. Paul Tillotson added a home run in the fifth to give the Rangers a clean 4-0 win, setting up their game with the Cougars.
“We talked to the team — the game is all about corrections — and so after the first two innings we started making corrections and crowding the plate a little bit more,” Rangers coach Tom McCabe said. “They made good adjustments and we expected a good game out of (pitcher Colin) Cicere and we got more than we expected to tell you the truth.”
The Rangers once again found themselves in an offensive funk early in their game against the Cougars. Through the first four innings they mustered only two hits and failed to score a run. The Cougars on the other hand, were able to get to Tillotson — the staff ace for the Rangers — early.
A couple of a errors and a wild pitch in the second inning allowed the Cougars to get on the game first and the frustration got to the sophomore hurler as he gave up a two-run home run to catcher Dylan Schmoker. Daniel Gibbins added a solo-shot in the fourth, putting the Cougars up 4-0.
“Defense is part of the game, you make an error here and an error there,” McCabe said. “It’s acceptable and our boys did a great job.”
Hope was not lost for the Rangers, however, as a fifth inning, three-run home run by leftfielder Conner Weeth pulled Lewis-Palmer to within a run. The Rangers would find that run in the top of the seventh as Weeth walked and was moved to third on a Tillotson single. The Cougars intentionally walked Conner Haws setting up a P.J. Underwood game-tying single.
Despite still having the bases loaded with one out, the Rangers wouldn’t be able to bring in another run and the two teams went into the bottom of the seventh tied 4-4.
It was there that two runners would reach, and a swing of the bat from Josh Bellatti would bring everyone in and keep in the Cougars in the hunt for a state championship.
“Their pitcher was having trouble with the off-speed pitch so I knew he was going fastballs all the way,” Josh Bellatti said. “I usually like to pull the ball but I knew with two strikes he wouldn’t give me anything good to hit and he was working that outside corner so I knew if I was going to put the ball in play I would have to hit it to right field.”
The walk-off win for the Cougars capped an exciting day in the 4A field that saw three of the state’s top four seeds fall. Evergreen now moves on to the state bracket which will be played next weekend.