(Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)
DENVER — The Cherry Creek baseball team had its back against the wall.
One strike was all that remained between the Bruins and their season coming to an end. But that turned out to be just enough to pull off what seemed more than improbable.
Erasing a three-run deficit, Cherry Creek rallied to edge Mountain Vista 9-8 in extra innings on Friday at All-City Stadium and remain alive in the Class 5A state tournament.
“All I can say is that we were blessed,” Cherry Creek coach Marc Johnson said. “(Mountain Vista) is a really good team, without a doubt. I’m just thankful for what happened.”
What happened was a series of plays that stole the game’s momentum from the Golden Eagles, who held an 8-5 lead entering the bottom of the seventh inning, and into the Bruins’ favor. A pair of extra-base hits from senior Cody Schultz late in the game helped set up Cherry Creek for a dose of revenge after losing to Mountain Vista in extra innings earlier during the regular season.
Both teams were explosive on offense early in Friday’s game, which reached the 8-5 score after only the top of the second frame. From there, some key pitching changes on each side held the other scoreless until the Bruins began their rally.
Schultz broke the silence with a two-out triple in the bottom of the seventh. He was followed by junior Tanner O’Tremba, who smacked a two-run home run over the left-field fence to bring Cherry Creek to within 8-7. Senior Andrew Chavez then scored on an RBI single from pinch hitter Gunnar Garcia for the equalizer that forced extra innings.
“All year long, it’s been ‘All Hail the seventh inning,’” Schultz said. “We’ve been able to score runs in the seventh, right when we needed them. We kept in that mindset and never stopped believing.”
As the game moved into the ninth inning, the stars aligned for Schultz to come through yet again. With runners on first and second, he connected on a curveball that dropped in shallow centerfield, allowing junior Isaac Kron to cross home plate and compete the dramatic walk-off victory.
“It was amazing to see that one drop. I turned around to see my guys running at me and couldn’t have been more excited,” Schultz said. “We’re fighters – and we were never going to go down without a fight.”
Cherry Creek advances to play Broomfield at 10 a.m. Saturday, with the winner earning a spot to play Rocky Mountain in the state title game at 12:30 p.m.
The Eagles defeated Rocky Mountain, which was the only remaining undefeated team in the double-elimination tournament, also in extra innings with a 7-2 victory earlier on Friday.
(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Broomfield was led by the impressive pitching performance of senior James Notary, who struck out 11 of the Lobos’ batters and allowed just five hits and two runs over the seven innings he threw.
The Eagles broke the game open in the top of the ninth with a five-run inning. Mitch Morales had an RBI double to give the Eagles the lead, which was later followed up by a double to deep left field by pinch hitter Tyler Conover, scoring three more. Rocky Mountain was unable to respond which resulted in the win for Broomfield.
“We knew things would go our way if we just kept on fighting, so that’s what we told ourselves we were going to do – no matter what,” Morales said. “Everybody played their part and things started to fall into place. It was exciting to get the team going. It sparked the offense and we kept the ball rolling after that.”