Littleton – Twiddling your thumbs in the rain for days on end will rust even the sharpest baseball squads.
Luckily for the Columbine Rebels, they found a way to shake it off when it mattered most against Northglenn.
Playing their first game since April 23, the Rebels rallied Wednesday with five runs in the last two innings to post a 6-5 victory over the Norse in a Class 5A nonleague tuneup game before the postseason begins Saturday.
Columbine, which finished the regular season 11-7, tied the game 5-5 with four runs in the bottom of the sixth before getting the game-winner when a one-out, bases-loaded balk by reliever Trey Smith scored John Fink.
It was an unexpected end to a game in which the teams combined to use nine pitchers and commit six errors.
“We talked about that before the game,” Columbine coach Chuck Gillman said. “It doesn’t matter what we tell these kids, they haven’t seen live pitching other than just batting practice in about 10 days.”
“We were just happy to see Northglenn walk up that sidewalk and have somebody to play.”
Rebels No. 8 hitter Joe LaViolette went 2-for-3 with a solo home run in the third inning and a two-run double in the pivotal sixth inning.
“That’s what our problem was: We came out a little flat in the beginning,” LaViolette said. “I think it just took a couple hits for the guys to get some fire.”
Columbine, from the Jefferson County League, set up the victory when pinch-hitter Matt McGraw led off the seventh by singling to deep right field. Fink reached on a fielder’s choice, advanced to second on a passed ball and took third on Jeff Cicchinelli’s bunt single.
Smith intentionally walked catcher C.J. Gillman to load the bases before flinching on his delivery to Aric Holmes.
“We didn’t have a good outing today; we just didn’t have the intensity level,” Northglenn skipper Hugo Garcia said. “We had just two kids out for us today, playing tough.”
Northglenn, from the Front Range League, lost for the first time in five games and dropped to 10-9.
Half of Northglenn’s six hits were infield singles.
Norse left fielder Nick Naegele hit the ball the hardest for the Norse, driving in two runs in the third inning on a slicing double to left field.
Craig Matsuda and Joe Herrera each scored once for the Norse, and each had two hits in four at-bats.
Northglenn 002 102 0 – 5 6 3
Columbine 001 004 1 – 6 8 3
Northglenn – Matsuda ss 4-1-2-0, Herrera 2b 4-1-2-0, Kesler c 2-1-0-1, Naegele lf-p 4-0-1-2, Regalado cf-p 4-0-0-0, Redding rf 2-0-1-0, Dawson 1b 4-0-0-0, Ast dh-p 1-1-0-0, M. Smith 3b 2-0-0-0, T. Smith lf-p 2-1-1-0, Niemeth p 0-0-0-0. Totals 29-5-7-3.
Columbine – Fink 3b-p 3-1-1-0, Cicchinelli 2b 4-1-2-0, Gillman c 2-1-1-0, Wells cf 1-0-0-0, Jackson rf 3-0-0-0, Cunningham 1b 3-0-0-0, Baum cf-p 3-1-0-0, LaViolette dh 3-1-2-3, Tucker ss 1-0-0-0, Holmes lf-3b 1-1-1-0, McGraw ph 1-0-1-0, Anundsen p 0-0-0-0, Montoya p 0-0-0-0. Totals 25-6-8-3.
E – Matsuda, Regaldo, M. Smith; Baum, Montoya, Tucker. LOB – Northglenn 7, Columbine 3. DP – Northglenn 1. SB – Redding. CS – Redding, Cicchinelli, LaViolette. SAC – M. Smith.
2B – Naegele, Cicchinelli, LaViolette. HR – LaViolette, solo in the third.
Batteries – Niemeth, Ast (3), Naegele (4), Regalado (6), T. Smith (7) and Kesler; Anundsen, Montoya (3), Baum (5), Fink (7) and Gillman. W – Fink. L T. Smith. HBP – Redding (by Anundsen in second). Balk T. Smith, Montoya.
