(Brie Thomas/CHSAANow.com)
BROOMFIELD — After a slow start from Rock Canyon in the first six innings, the Jaguars were determined to show Broomfield why they are ranked No. 7 in Class 5A baseball rankings.
The Jaguars were able to battle back from a 1-0 deficit in the sixth to pull out the 2-1 win over the Eagles.
“The first four innings, it kind of showed what the issues we have as a team are, which is we didn’t have a lot of mental toughness,” Rock Canyon coach Tyler Munro said after the game.
Rock Canyon had plenty of opportunities to score but constantly found themselves leaving runners on base.
“We had the runner on third base quite a bit and we couldn’t get him across, we kept striking out,” Munro said about not being able to score throughout the game. “We had five strikeouts with a runner on third base.”
And those five strikeouts from Broomfield pitcher Walter Pennington contributed to his total of eight strikeouts during the game.
“We started off kind of putting our pitcher in a bad spot, they got bases loaded right off the bat,” Broomfield coach Garren Estes. “Walter pitched a great game, we just couldn’t get him any runs.”
The first run of the game came in the bottom of the second when Angelo Alvarado grounded one out, allowing Mason Speirs to score.
But from there on out, both teams had a hard time finding a way to get runners home. Throughout six innings the Eagles defense and fielding was keeping Rock Canyon from scoring.
Until Rock Canyon found their mental toughness and started to take risks while base running.
In the top of the sixth the Jaguars started stealing second and third base every time they found themselves on base, and in the end the risk paid off.
After Coby Zimmerman stole second base, sophomore Cayden Zimmerman stepped up to the plate and advances Zimmerman to third, leaving the gate wide open.
A single gave Rock Canyon the tying run, bringing the game to 1-1 in the sixth inning.
Heading into the seventh, Broomfield took the field with Pennington still on the mound.
After the Jaguars’ first batter struck out to open up the inning, Rock Canyon’s Colton Hill stepped up and drilled a double into the right field gap.
With two outs, Rock Canyon knew it had to do something to get a run before Broomfield got it last chance. And senior Trevor Howard took it upon himself to make that something happen. Howard hit a double, which brought Hill in for the go-ahead (and eventual winning) run.
“I was looking for a pitch on the outside to hit to right field, because he was pitching us outside all game and I got that pitch and just hit it there,” Howard said.
Rock Canyon was able to battle back in the final two innings of the game to get the win and prove to people that the old Rock Canyon baseball team, which won a state title last season, was back.
“We kind of showed something that was characteristic of what we’ve showed the last couple of years, which made us successful: We can be tough,” Munro said.
Next up for Broomfield is a game with Rocky Mountain on April 12. Rock Canyon will play ThunderRidge on April 11.