Broomfield – Sara Baumberger can slow time.
Holy Family’s junior pitcher has four pitches in her repertoire, but a start-and-stop changeup did the most damage to Middle Park in a pivotal 4-0 victory in a Class 3A Metropolitan League game Saturday at the Tigers’ field.
“That was working really good,” Baumberger said of her changeup.
Baumberger pitched a one-hitter for Holy Family (9-4, 4-0), ranked No. 3 in The Denver Post/9News poll, and the Tigers’ offense pieced together four one-run innings to stay undefeated and tied atop the Metropolitan League standings with Faith Christian.
Baumberger sat down the first six batters as well as the final nine. She finished with seven strikeouts – and gave up only one single, in the fourth inning – largely thanks to the mixture of speed.
No. 7 Middle Park (9-3, 2-1) fell behind in the second inning when Baumberger and Brittany Balzen hit back- to-back singles. An error in the infield with Lara Mathewson batting allowed courtesy runner Mary Peterson to score.
“We came out really intense today, and that’s always the goal,” Lindsey Halligan said. “With Sara, she knows we will back her up on defense, and we know that she will get people out.”
As Baumberger tore through the Panthers’ batters, Holy Family added another run in the third inning with an RBI single by Alyssa Sommers. The shot to right field scored Halligan from second.
Sommers scored in the fifth after a pinch-hit single by Caitlin Connelly. And in the sixth, Halligan’s double drove in Mathewson to put the four runs on the scoreboard.
“Today was no indication of how we have been playing,” Middle Park coach Robbie Cheesman said. “The biggest problem is we didn’t hit the ball. (Pitcher Whitney Young) kept us in this game.”
Holy Family and Middle Park were blanked in the first round of the playoffs last season, and neither team wants an early exit this time around.
“They came out and played a very good game, and there is more to come from this team,” Holy Family coach Glen Ramos said.
Middle Park 000 000 0 – 0 1 3
Holy Family 011 011 x – 4 9 0
Middle Park – Nutting 1b 2-0-0-0, Steffen ss 3-0-0-0, Lock c 3-0-0-0, Young p 3-0-0-0, Newberry 2b 3-0-1-0, Cross cf 3-0-0-0, Bien 3b 2-0-0-0, Hugley lf 2-0-0-0, Leyba rf 1-0-0-0. Totals 22-0-1-0.
Holy Family – Mathewson 2b 3-1-2-0, Boothe lf 4-0-0-0, Halligan ss 4-1-2-1, Johnson 1b 4-0-0-0, Sommers dh 3-0-2-1, McGinnis cf 2-0-0-0, Connelly dh 1-0-1-1, Falletta c 3-0-0-0, Baumberger p 2-0-1-0, Balzen rf 3-0-1-0, Haertig cr 0-1-0-0, Peterson cr 0-1-0-0. Totals 29-4-9-3.
E – Newberry, Steffen, Nutting. LOB – Middle Park 3, Holy Family 9.
Batteries – Young and Lock; Baumberger and Falletta. W – Baumberger (4-1). L – Young. PB – Lock. 2B – Sommers. SB – Leyba. Time – 1:11.
