Arvada – Nines were wild for Ralston Valley in Wednesday’s 4A Jefferson County League finale.
Josh McKinney, batting ninth in the lineup, drove in seven runs on two home runs, and the Mustangs rallied from an early 6-0 deficit to beat D’Evelyn 15-7 and complete their second straight 9-0 league campaign, avoiding a potential three-way tie with D’Evelyn (7-2) and Golden (8-1).
“The thing about our lineup is we’re so dangerous,” said Ralston Valley coach Shane Freeh- ling, whose club scored at least 10 runs in every league game this season. “We have some pretty qualified hitters at the bottom, and it makes us a run-scoring machine.”
McKinney, a senior centerfielder, proved that to D’Evelyn ace Joe Norris in the bottom of the second inning.
After the Jaguars scored six runs (two earned with the help of three Mustangs errors) in the top of the second, Norris walked in a run and then hung a curveball to McKinney. The right- handed hitter stroked the ball for a grand slam to the opposite field, the final pitch of the game for Norris, who allowed five runs on four hits and two walks.
“It pumped our team up and was a good turnaround for us,” McKinney said of his second grand slam this season, the first one coming against Evergreen.
It was the first of two homers for McKinney and four for the day for second-ranked Ralston Valley (14-3 overall), which came into the game with a school-record 31 round-trippers.
“That’s incredible power numbers,” Freehling said. “Granted, we play in a small park that’s been called a launching pad. But a lot of them are going to be out in other parks as well.”
Derek Rowe tied the game with a leadoff solo shot in the third off reliever and loser Dan Graeve, and McKinney cranked a three-run blast to right-center as the Mustangs scored seven times in the fifth for a 13-6 lead. Jason Alvarado added a two-run homer in the sixth.
In the fifth, first baseman Joe Hasch stepped off the bag before receiving the throw from shortstop, allowing the opening batter, Matt Skipper, to get on base. A sacrifice and Casey Schmidt’s double scored the go-ahead run, and after a hit batter by Graeve, McKinney made it 10-6 with his second home run.
Ralston Valley’s top four hitters in the lineup came to life with four straight hits, Jake Wood driving in one run with a double and Skipper knocking in the final two of the inning with a single.
D’Evelyn 060 000 1 – 7 7 1
Ralston Valley 051 072 x – 15 16 3
D’Evelyn – Gesell ss 3-1-0-0, Sears 2b 3-1-1-0, Kastens cf 4-1-1-2, Goetz 1b 3-0-1-0, Hasch 1b 0-0-0-0, Wilson 1b 1-0-0-0, Graeve dh-p-1b 4-1-2-0, Norris p 0-0-0-0, Schaffer 3b-p 4-1-1-0, Ozols lf 4-0-1-1, Baldesarri rf 2-1-0-0, Sylvester c 1-1-0-0. Totals 29-7-7-3.
Ralston Valley – Young c 4-0-2-0, Shopnitz c 1-1-1-0, Chirtz ss 5-1-2-0, Wood 3b-p 5-1-1-1, Skipper p 4-0-1-2, Graham pr 0-1-0-0, Rowe 1b 3-2-2-1, Schmidt dh 3-2-2-1, Brym lf 1-1-1-0, Alvarado rf 2-2-1-2, Yost 2b 0-1-0-1, Arrieta ph 1-0-0-0, McKinney cf 4-2-3-7. Totals 33-15-16-14.
E – Hasch, Young, Brym, Yost. SB – Wood. SAC – Sears, Rowe, Yost. LOB – D’Evelyn 7, Ralston Valley 6. 2B – Graeve, Ozols, Young, Wood, Schmidt, McKinney. HR – Kastens, one on in second; McKinney (2), grand slam in second, two on in fifth; Rowe, solo in second; Alvarado, 1 on in sixth.
Batteries – Norris, Graeve (2), Schaffer (5) and Sylvester; Skipper, Wood (6) and Young, Shopnitz (6). W – Skipper (6-0). L – Graeve (2-1). WP – Norris, Skipper. PB – Young 2. HBP – Baldesarri (by Skipper), Yost and Alvarado (by Graeve).
