(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
AURORA — Last week, Mountain View stumbled a bit in its softball regional, dropping the second game of the tournament to Frederick.
But the state tournament would be an entirely different story. After beating Discovery Canyon 8-2 in the first round, the Mountain Lions came away with a more decisive (and stunning) win over No. 2 Mullen, 15-4 to advance to the Class 4A semifinals.
“When you play some of these teams here and you’ve seen their scores and seen their records, you don’t know who they are,” coach Randy Felton said. “We hit well today. We made routine plays and sometimes the routine plays open up big innings.”
And they wasted no time in getting those big innings going.
Mountain View jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead in the first inning and quickly increased it to a 8-1 lead by the fourth.
The Mountain Lions added five more runs in the fifth and had a chance to close the door early on the Mustangs, but Mullen showed some resiliency and tacked on three of their own to force another inning.
But Mountain View’s bats refused to cool down and they snagged two more runs and came out in the bottom of the sixth and held off any chance for a Mullen rally to take the win and advance to the semifinals on Saturday.
“We were pretty nervous,” shortstop Izzy Griego said. “It’s hard going into a game and being a lower seed than the team you’re playing. But scoring five in the first inning, the pressure was lifted off our pressure a bit.”
Griego was huge on offense for the Mountain Lions, hitting two triples and a double while driving in three RBIs.
Tara Shadowen added four RBIs of her own in the winning effort.
Next up for Mountain View is No. 3 Valor Christian. The semifinals will begin play at 10 a.m. Saturday morning.
(1) Erie 9, (9) Pueblo West 1
Pueblo West jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead, but a solo home run by Rio Sanchez in the fifth inning sparked the Tigers. They would score five more before the Cyclones could retire the side and advanced to the semis with a 9-1 win.
(3) Valor Christian 1, (11) Silver Creek 0
Abby Zuschlag drove in Hannah Hollander in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Eagles a 1-0 win and a chance to defend their 4A state title.
(5) Air Academy 7, (4) Wheat Ridge 5
Payton Romines launched a 3-run home run in the top of the seventh inning to put the Kadets into the semifinals following a heartbreaking early exit in 2015.
The Kadets will face Erie at 10 a.m.