(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
PUEBLO — Winning championships in Limon has become a regular occurrence. But for the last baseball game of the year, the last true team event for the Badgers, it was more a family affair at Rawlings Field on the campus of CSU-Pueblo.
Early miscues were made, but in true baseball spirit Limon simply looked to the next play. Then the next. By the time it was over, the Badgers got an 11-7 win over Peyton and are baseball state champions for the first time since 2010.
Perhaps the most fulfilling part of the day for coach Rocky Rockwell was watching two of his sons play a crucial role in helping the Badgers bring the Class 2A title home. Although he didn’t start the game, Brady Rockwell came took the mound in relief and worked efficiently after Peyton had briefly taken a 6-3 lead in the fifth inning.
He worked 2.2 innings of relief and gave up just two earned runs. Behind the plate was little brother Jordan. The two worked well together defensive and it was Jordan who gave the Badgers (20-0 overall) a spark when they needed it the most. He started the second inning off with a triple and scored on a ground ball to third by Camden Smithburg. He added a single and a double later in the game and scored three runs on top of driving in two.
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
“He was just trying to take base hit swings,” Rocky said. “It seemed like the ball was jumping off Peyton’s bats too. You play on these bigger fields and no one’s trying to lift the ball in the air. As a coach you love it, because then they just hit line drives and the ball carries. And Jordy got a couple in the gap and they carried. He’s just a gamer.”
Limon looked to have a bit of nerves heading into the game as the they started the top of the first with three big defensive miscues.
But they settled down to take a 3-0 lead after two innings.
The Panthers (17-2) finally got their bats in a groove in the top of the 5th inning. They got five consecutive runners on base highlighted by Brennen Meyers’ huge RBI triple. Rockwell got starting pitcher Trey Hines out and brought in Brady to try and get the Badgers back on track.
“It’s definitely a little nerve-racking,” Brady said. “But we’ve been doing this all year. We’ve been down a few times and I knew that we were going to put the ball in play and good things would happen.”
He was right.
The Badgers came out hot in their side of the fifth and the first four hitters of the inning reached base and scored. That included an RBI single from Jordan Rockwell that tied the game.
“I came in confident and came through for my team,” Jordan said.
He was one of two Badgers to drive in a pair of runs as he and Smithburg did it from the seven and eight spots in the lineup, respectively.
This is the third baseball title for Limon and the first since 2010. But overall, this is a group of kids that have been great across the board – playing in the both the football and boys basketball championship games this year – and expect to be at that championship level.
“We’re a big football town,” Rocky said. “We have 20 football titles and this is our third baseball title. This is the first time I’ve been a head coach and been a part of a team like this. They do expect to be the best.”
And if this year has shown anything for this group of Badgers, it’s that they can make the reality live up to the expectation.”