Green Mountain junior Caton Lodice (22) is greeted at home plate by teammates after his grand slam in the first inning. The home run tied things up 4-4 against Alameda late Thursday afternoon at Green Mountain High School. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
LAKEWOOD — Green Mountain senior Jose Luis Cedillo had himself an impressive first inning late Thursday afternoon.
The Rams’ lead-off batter went 3-for-3 from the plate with four RBIs in the opening frame against Alameda International. Cedillo came to the plate three times as Green Mountain scored 17 runs in the bottom of the first inning.
Green Mountain junior Dylan Hearn fouls off a pitch at the plate during the second inning Thursday. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
“It’s always good to see that bats come alive,” said Cedillo, who finished 4-for-5 from the plate with five RBIs in the Rams eventual 26-6 victory. “When we string the hits together it takes the pressure of the pitching. They just have to go in there and throw strikes.”
Green Mountain (3-4, 3-2 in Class 4A Jeffco League) actually fell behind 4-0 against the Pirates (1-5, 0-4). The Pirates scored 4 runs on three hits, including a 2-run single by sophomore Oscar Nguyen to cap off the nice top of the first inning.
However, it didn’t stand up to what the Rams did in the bottom of the frame. The first eight batters reached the scored. Green Mountain sent 21 batters to the plate in the inning.
Junior Caton Lodice delivered the most impressive hit that nobody saw. With the bases loaded and no outs, the Rams’ clean-up hitter rocketed a high shot to dead centerfield. With the sun behind home plate nobody really picked up the flight off the ball of the bat, including Lodice.
“I did not see that ball,” Lodice said. “It was launched straight up.”
Alameda’s centerfield didn’t pick the ball up either. It wasn’t until everyone could see the ball land beyond the centerfield fence did people realize it was a grand slam home run.
“It definitely sparked something,” Lodice said. “It started our offense off strong and finished strong.”
Green Mountain sophomore Donovan Baca was solid on the mound striking out four of the five batters he faced in an inning and 2/3 work against Alameda. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
It was the start of the largest scoring output of the season for Green Mountain. The Rams scored seven more runs in the bottom of the second inning to extend the lead to 24-6. Green Mountain induced the 20-run mercy rule to end the game in the bottom of the third inning with a RBI pinch-hit single by Sebastian King.
Sophomore Donovan Baca picked up the win on the mound. He took over for junior Luke Davis on the mound in the top of the first inning after Davis had some control issues. Baca struck out the first two batters he faced in the second inning and gave up just a single in the third inning.
“We didn’t get to see him earlier in the year because of the weather during tryouts,” Green Mountain coach Brad Kidwell said of his sophomore pitcher. “We are seeing what he can do and he’s been impressive.”
Pitching will be a key element as Green Mountain has four games in six days starting Saturday, May 22, against Golden.
“Of course Golden is going to be tough competition,” Cedillo said of the showdown against the Demons. “We need to compete through seven innings and hopefully string some hits together and the pitching comes in clutch as well.”
Behind focusing on finishing strong to hopefully make a run at qualifying for the 24-team postseason, Green Mountain’s handful of seniors also have graduation on their minds.
“It has been hard because everyone’s mindset has been different,” said Cedillo, who is one of the four seniors that will graduate Friday at Red Rocks. “It has been a little tough.”
It has been a rough season with the Rams losing three games by 1-run. The latest was Wednesday with a heartbreaking walk-off victory by Ralston Valley.
Green Mountain senior Dylan Green laces a base hit during the Rams’ 17-run bottom of the first inning Thursday against Alameda. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)