Lakewood – Pueblo South pitcher Mario Mattivi had tears in his eyes when he walked off the field Friday afternoon.
The Colts’ senior not only kept his team alive in the Class 4A championship series with a brilliant performance, but in the process ended Niwot’s 45-game winning streak with a complete-game, 4-3 victory over the Cougars at All-Star Park.
“That was probably the best time to have the best game of my life,” said Mattivi, who has not lost a game in the past two seasons and has an 18-0 record during that span.
Pueblo South (23-2) will play Ralston Valley in an elimination game at 10 a.m. Saturday for the right to face Niwot again in the championship at All-City Field.
Early on it looked like it might be another typical Niwot performance. After Mattivi retired the game’s first two hitters, his first pitch to Stanford-bound Sean Ratliff flew over the 390-foot marker in center field.
“I kind of threw it over the middle, and it was the wrong place to pitch him,” Mattivi said. “But it was kind of like last week; home runs happen, but you’ve just got to shrug them off and move on.”
Pueblo South responded with four unanswered runs, collecting one in each of the first four innings. Brett Farbo singled to lead off the game and reached second on Ryan Carrillo’s sacrifice. Wichita State-bound catcher Tony Pechek then drove home Farbo on a double to the right-center field gap.
The Colts would make Niwot pay for Winslow Taylor’s back-to-back throwing errors in the bottom of the second and went up 2-1 without a hit.
“I told them beforehand that I thought we could play with anybody in the state, and we came out and we showed that we can,” Pueblo South coach J.R. Roman said.
Mattivi, unfazed by Ratliff’s homer, went back to work, striking out the next four hitters and not allowing a hit to again until the sixth inning. He finished with 13 strikeouts.
In the sixth inning, things got interesting. A two-out single by Brian Lux brought Ratliff to the plate. On a 1-2 count, Mattivi tried to jam Ratliff, but the strong southpaw was able to hit the pitch off the scoreboard in left field.
“That shows you how good he is,” said Mattivi, who will pitch next season at Trinidad State Junior College.
After going 3-0 on the first weekend, Niwot (24-1) – which last lost in a game during the 2004 season to Provo, Utah – was already guaranteed a spot in Saturday’s title game and had the benefit of saving Ratliff for another day.
“When we lost, nobody was really saying anything, and then we got together and decided that (Saturday) was really the day,” Niwot shortstop Mike Harpe said. “Today’s gone. Everybody’s 0-0 and just hopefully go out and win that game tomorrow.”
Niwot will play the winner of the Pueblo South-Ralston Valley game at 2 p.m. at All-City Field.
Niwot 100 002 0 – 3 3 2
Pueblo South 111 100 x – 4 6 1
Niwot – Stockwell lf 2-0-0-0, Lux dh 3-1-1-0, Spencer p 0-0-0-0, Saracini cr 0-0-0-0, Boveri 3b 0-0-0-0, Ratliff cf 2-2-2-3, Stapp rf 2-0-0-0, Taylor 3b-p 3-0-0-0, Perry c 3-0-0-0, Harpe ss 3-0-0-0, Bauer 1b 3-0-0-0, Olson 2b 3-0-0-0. Totals 23-3-3-3.
Pueblo South – Farbo cf 2-1-2-1, Carrillo rf 4-0-0-0, Pechek c 1-0-1-1, Macaluso cr 0-1-0-0, Snyder 2b 4-0-0-0, DiIorio ss 4-0-1-0, Cover 3b 3-0-1-1, Vanderputten dh 2-0-0-0, Mattivi p 0-0-0-0, Giodano 1b 3-2-1-0, Sullivan lf 1-0-0-0. Totals 24-4-6-3.
E – Taylor, Taylor, Cover. LOB – Niwot 3, Pueblo South 10. 2B – Pechek, DiIorio. HR – Ratliff (2), solo in first, one on in sixth. SAC – Carrillo, Sullivan. SB – Stockwell, Stapp; Farbo, Macaluso, Sullivan. CS – Vanderputten. DP – Pueblo South 1.
Batteries – Spencer, Taylor (6) and Perry; Mattivi and Pechek. W – Mattivi (10-0). L – Spencer (7-1). PB – Perry. HBP – Pechek (by Spencer in 3rd); Vanderputten (by Spencer in 5th).
