Greenwood Village – It has been an unusually up-and- down season for Cherry Creek. The Bruins admittedly weren’t that crisp in any phase of their game throughout the regular season in finishing second in the Centennial League.
However, as usual, the Bruins are entering the final rounds of the big-school playoffs.
They put it together Saturday at home by downing Durango 9-1 to capture one of Class 5A’s eight district championships. Cherry Creek (18-3) advanced to the double-elimination round, which will begin Friday.
“That’s what we wanted,” veteran Bruins coach Marc Johnson said. “We knew we had to get there to have a chance. We’re very pleased.
“We came in hungry and played real well.”
Cherry Creek, which earlier beat Heritage 11-1 in five innings, combined pitching, defense and hitting to enter the next rounds on an upbeat note. Concerning upbeat, former Bruins player Donnie Ottaway, recently back from a year-long stint with the Army in Iraq, threw out the first pitch – a fastball for a strike that drew a standing ovation – to set the tone.
“We didn’t even know he was coming,” Johnson said. “He loved it, we loved it and the kids loved it.”
Cherry Creek took command immediately against Durango. No. 2 hitter Tyler Robbins tripled his first two times at the plate as Cherry Creek took a 6-0 lead after two innings.
Brett Sowers added a sacrifice fly and a run-scoring double; Nick Bryant, who improved to 7-0 on the mound by beating Heritage, added two run-scoring singles; and Danny Sheridan scored three times for the Bruins.
“When we come out with intensity, our team becomes something out of this world,” Robbins said. “Hopefully, we’ll get hot now and do some damage.”
In celebrating his 18th birthday, Robbins was a combined 5-for-7 on the day.
On the mound, left-hander Adam Morrison permitted just four singles before junior righty Kelsey Sokoloski came on to record the final two outs.
Meanwhile, Durango, which earlier outlasted Ponderosa 4-3 in eight innings, got ready to embark on its 6 1/2-hour trip home. But the Demons (15-6), who finished tied for first place in the Southwestern League, needed no apologies.
“Hopefully, this state realizes we can play some ball on the western slope, too,” Demons coach Erik Anderson said.
CHERRY CREEK 9, DURANGO 1
Durango 000 100 0 – 1 4 2
Cherry Creek 240 300 x – 9 9 3
Durango – Sansoni ss 3-0-1-0, Piatczyk ss 0-0-0-0, Allen 2b 2-0-1-0, Hofman 2b 1-0-0-0, Gibbons rf 3-0-1-0, Dillon cr 0-0-0-0, Hemphill 1b 2-0-0-0, Batchelor 1b 0-0-0-0, J. McCaddon 3b 3-0-0-0, Stengel dh 3-0-0-0, N. McCaddon cf 3-1-1-0, Slabach c 2-0-0-0, Doyle lf 3-0-0-0, Stastny p 0-0-0-0. Totals 25-1-4-0.
Cherry Creek – Sheridan cf 2-3-1-1, Robbins ss 3-3-2-3, Sowers 2b 2-1-1-2, Moos ph 1-0-1-0, Bryant dh 2-0-2-2, Doman dh 1-0-0-0, McDonald lf 4-0-0-0, Halpern 1b 3-0-1-0, Weir 3b 1-1-0-0, Watters c 2-0-1-0, Baker ph 1-0-0-0, Sweet cr 0-1-0-0, Mills rf 3-0-0-0, Morrison p 0-0-0-0. Totals 25-9-9-8.
E – Sowers, Stastny, Sansoni. LOB – Durango 2, Cherry Creek 5. DP – Durango. SB – Halpern, Sheridan, Robbins.
2B – Sowers. 3B – Robbins 2.
Batteries – Stastny, Reed (5) and Slabach; Morrison, Sokolosky (7) and Watters. W – Morrison (5-2). L – Stastny. Balks – Stastny, Morrison. SF – Sowers.
CHERRY CREEK 11, HERITAGE 1
Heritage 001 00 – 1 7 2
Cherry Creek 222 41 – 11 14 2
Bryant and Sheridan; McMahon, Skufka (4) and Neuman. W – Bryant (7-0). L – McMahon. Highlights – Sheridan, CC, 2-for-3, 2 RBIs, triple; Robbins, CC, 3-for-4, 3 RBIs; Bryant, CC 3-for-3, 2 RBIs, double; Halpern, CC, 2-for-3, 2 RBIs; Weir, CC, 2-for-2, 2 RBIs; Lessna, H, 2-for-2.
DURANGO 4, PONDEROSA 3, 8 inn.
Ponderosa 000 200 10 – 3 5 4
Durango 200 010 01 – 4 8 0
Quisenberry, Fogerty (7) and J. Jacquet; Phippen, Gibbons (7) and Wojcik. W – Gibbons. L – Fogerty. Highlights – Stengel, D, game-winning triple; Gibbons, D, 2-for-4, double; Stengel, D, 2-for-4; Mejor, P, 2-for-4.
Neil H. Devlin can be reached at 303-820-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com.
