(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
DENVER — Jerome Bohannon thought he hit just a lazy fly ball in the second inning. It wasn’t until the Cherokee Trail crowd went nuts that he realized the ball had cleared the fence and the Cougars had the lead.
Then a six-run third inning opened up a seven-run lead for the Cougars and they were able to hold on for a 10-8 win Saturday afternoon at All-City Field.
“I’m just playing the game, I’m just doing what I can and good things happen,” Bohannon said. “I thought it was a pop-up and then I heard the crowd going crazy. I couldn’t believe it.”
Cherokee Trail (20-4) entered the seventh inning ahead 10-3, but four walks, two hits and two hit batsmen resulted in the tying sitting in scoring position for Cherry Creek. But leadoff hitter Reid Weber popped up to shortstop to end the game, giving the Cougars the inside track at the Class 5A state baseball championship.
“It was a great game for six innings,” Cougars coach Allan Dyer said. “That seventh inning, we just couldn’t close them out, but that’s to be expected with these guys.”
If anything, it seemed like the outcome was going to be the reverse of the end result. The Bruins (17-7) started the game with five of their first seven batters getting base hits, with three of them eventually crossing home plate.
The Cougars’ first turn at the plate resulted in a couple of base hits of their own. They would get two quick runs to cut the lead to one. Bohannon’s home run would give them the lead, and then a six-run onslaught gave starting pitcher Keven MacKintosh some breathing room.
Not that breathing room is anything helpful when facing a team as dangerous as Creek.
“The first half, it still felt like a close game even though we were up by a lot,” MacKintosh said. “I had to keep doing my job.”
From the second inning on, he cruised. He only allowed one hit while walking three hitters in that span. He was pulled after the sixth inning due to reaching his pitch count limit for the weekend.
So in the seventh, he was forced to watch as Cherry Creek hitters kept reaching base and kept crossing home.
“I looked at it and almost had a heart attack,” he said. “I was like ‘what is happening? Just throw a strike.'”
With the win, Cherokee Trail is now assured of the chance to play for the 5A title next week at All-City Field. They will play Mullen at 12 p.m. on Friday. Should they win, they’ll have to be beaten twice by the winner of Cherry Creek vs. Rocky Mountain.
Mullen eliminated Grandview and Rocky Mountain eliminated Ralston Valley earlier in the day.
Should the Cougars lose, three teams will remain in play for the championship. Cherokee Trail will be given a bye and will face the winner of the other two remaining teams, with the winner of that game taking the state title.
Regardless, the Cougars don’t plan on changing their approach at all. They’re going to stick with what got them to this point.
“We’re just going to keep doing what we do,” Bohannon said. “Everybody’s hitting right now. It just seems somebody is the guy every day. We’re going to let our pitchers get healthy and then we’re going to give them what we got.”