Englewood – Niwot ace Sean Ratliff was so good Friday against Ralston Valley, he came back for an encore.
Ratliff pitched six shutout innings against the Mustangs, surrendering one hit and striking out 13-of-21 batters he faced.
Reliever Winslow Taylor tried to close out the seventh but gave up two walks and a run-scoring double to Kyle Meiser, and Ratliff was brought back from center field to finish what he started.
“I’ve never had that happen to me,” said Ratliff, who struck out Kyle Parzybok and got Adam Young to hit into a double play to wrap up a quirky complete game.
Ratliff’s return sealed the 8-2 victory over the squad from Arvada in the Class 4A state championship series at Harry Wise Field.
The defending champion and top-seeded Cougars, which also defeated Golden 12-2, improved to 22-0 and will return here today to face Northern League rival Longmont (18-5) at 3 p.m. Longmont outscored Sterling and Pueblo South by a combined 25-7 on Friday to advance.
Ratliff, a Stanford recruit, was throwing his fastball about 90 mph and had great control of his curveball and slider.
“I just did what I usually do: come out and throw strikes and try to throw it by people,” Ratliff said. “It worked.”
Ratliff struck out seven of the first eight batters he faced, struck out the side in the fifth and faced the minimum batters in three innings.
“The kid is overpowering,” Ralston Valley coach Shane Freehling said. “When you play at the high school level, he is completely dominant.”
Fourth-seeded Ralston Valley (17-4), which defeated Broomfield 12-10 earlier, will face the winner of today’s elimination game between Sterling (16-5) and Northridge (13-9).
Ralston Valley starter Kevin Chritz struck out the side in the top of the first inning before the Cougars warmed to him.
Right fielder Clint Stapp went 4-for-4, drove in three runs and scored twice to lead the Cougars.
“It’s contagious, the momentum,” Stapp said. “They had a little bit of it coming out of the first inning, and then the top of the second the guys did a great job. We played small ball when we had to and we swung the bats when we had to.”
Shortstop Mike Harpe scored the game-winning run in the fourth on a towering solo homer to left field to put the Cougars up 3-0.
Niwot 002 132 0 – 8 10 3
Ralston Valley 000 000 2 – 2 2 2
Niwot – Stockwell cf 5-0-0-0, Lux dh 1-3-0-0, Ratliff p-cf 3-0-1-1, Stapp rf 4-2-4-3, W. Taylor 3b-p 4-0-1-0, Perry c 3-0-2-1, Saraceni lf 4-0-1-1, Harpe ss 3-1-1-1, Olsen 2b 4-0-0-0, Zelle cr 0-2-0-0, Hollowell cr 0-0-0-0, Fowler 1b 0-0-0-0. Totals 31-8-10-7.
Ralston Valley – Alvarado rf 2-0-0-0, B. Chritz ss 3-0-0-0, Tapia c 3-0-1-0, Skipper 3b-p 2-0-0-0, Andres dh-lf 2-1-0-0, Meiser 1b 3-0-1-1, Harfst lf-rf 2-0-0-0, Parzybok cf 3-0-0-0, Young 2b 3-0-0-0, Arrieta 3b 1-0-0-0, McKinney cr 0-1-0-0. Totals 24-2-2-1.
HR – Harpe, solo in 4th.
Batteries – Ratliff, W. Taylor (7), Ratliff (7) and Perry; K. Chritz, Skipper (6) and Tapia. W – Ratliff. L – K. Chritz.
NIWOT 12, GOLDEN 2, 6 INN.
Golden 101 000 – 2 5 1
Niwot 140 304 – 12 11 0
Golden – Garramone rf 3-0-0-0, Rizzuto cf 1-2-1-0, Coughlin c 3-0-0-0, Sheesley 2b 2-0-1-1, Goergen dh 2-0-0-0, DeMoulin lf 2-0-0-0, Valerius 3b 3-0-2-0, Wamboldt 1b 3-0-1-0, Babkiewich ss 1-0-0-0, Nassau p 0-0-0-0, Cleveland p 0-0-0-0, Carbone ph 1-0-0-0. Totals 21-2-5-1.
Niwot – Stockwell lf 4-2-1-1, Lux dh 2-2-1-0, Ratliff cf 3-1-2-3, Stapp rf 3-1-2-1, W. Taylor 3b-p 2-1-0-0, Perry c 2-0-0-0, Harpe ss 4-1-2-2, Bauer 1b 1-0-1-1, Fowler 1b 0-1-0-0, Olsen 2b 3-0-1-0, Zelle cr 0-1-0-0, Saraceni lf 1-2-1-0, Hollowell cr 0-0-0-0. Totals 25-12-11-8.
Batteries – Nassau, Cleveland (6) and Coughlin; Spencer, W. Taylor (3) and Perry. W – Spencer. L – Nassau.
RALSTON VALLEY 12, BROOMFIELD 10
Ralston Valley 100 902 0 – 12 10 3
Broomfield 104 005 0 – 10 9 3
Ralston Valley – Alvarado rf 4-2-1-0, B. Chritz ss 7-3-2-3, Tapia c 6-1-1-0, Skipper 3b 4-1-3-2, Andres dh 3-1-0-0, Meiser 1b 4-1-0-0, Harfst p 3-1-1-2, Parzybok cf 6-1-1-1, Arietta lf 5-1-1-2, McKinney 2b 0-0-0-0. Totals 45-12-10-10.
Broomfield – McBride cf 3-2-2-1, Oliver rf 3-2-1-1, Grandinetti ss 5-1-3-5, Arapkiles 3b 4-0-0-0, Hubbard p-1b 5-1-1-2, Arensdorf 2b 6-1-2-0, Siebenaller dh 3-1-0-0, McFadden lf 4-0-1-0, Kessler c 4-2-2-1. Totals 37-10-12-10.
Batteries – Hubbard, Lontine (6) and Kessler; Harfst, K. Chritz (7) and Tapia. W – Harfst. L – Hubbard.
