One victory from being in command of the 2006 Class 5A championship series, Columbine’s inauspicious 1-5 beginning to the season seems like an eternity ago.
“Yeah, it does,” Rebels senior Evan Anundsen said.
This is May, not March.
In opening rounds of the double-elimination tournament Friday at All-City Field, the Rebels handled Fort Collins 6-2 in their opener, then blasted defending Colorado champion Grand Junction 15-2.
The Rebels (16-7), who won for the 12th time in 13 games, will take on Chaparral on Saturday at All-City in the winners’ bracket game, the top position to be in next weekend, when the title will be decided. Grand Junction, which handled Mountain Vista 3-2 in the first round, had its 15-game winning streak snapped and dipped to 19-4.
After dropping two of three games in state, then losing their first three in an out-of-state tournament, Columbine eventually got it together behind Anundsen and a lineup that displayed abilities to fight, claw and scratch out runs.
And it was on display Friday.
Head coach Chuck Gillman elected not to start Anundsen on the mound in the opener and it appeared costly early as Fort Collins took a 2-0 lead. However, Anundsen ripped a two-run homer to tie it and the Rebels tacked on four more through an assortment of contributions.
Against Grand Junction, the Rebels got a bonus – Anundsen was needed for only three innings and their offense pounded out 13 hits, took advantage of three errors and four hit batsmen, and rolled.
“The kids have really picked it up,” Gillman said. “It’s nice. We saved Evan’s arm a little and we had a lot of good at-bats.”
Columbine threatened in the first, but came up empty. No matter. The Rebels strung together innings of three, one, seven and four runs to quickly turn it into a laugher, going through three Grand Junction pitchers in the process.
Jeff Cicchinelli, Scott Anundsen, C.J. Gillman, Domonic Montoya and Curtis Cunningham each had two hits as every Rebels starter reached base at least twice.
Montoya, who was a reserve, led the way with four runs batted in. Cicchinelli, Gillman and Cunningham each added two. Center fielder J.T. Baum scored four times. The Rebels also stole eight bases.
The barrage of runs allowed Evan Anundsen, the Wichita State-bound right-hander who struck out 19 batters in the past weekend’s two victories in districts, to be fresh if needed against Chaparral. Coach Gillman said he wasn’t sure if Anundsen would start Saturday, but wouldn’t hesitate to bring him in.
“I felt pretty good, but, mechanically, I was all over the place,” Anundsen said. “It may have been having that game beforehand, just playing the entire time (as an outfielder) got me tired. I just wanted to get through this game as quick as possible and get to (Saturday).”
He improved to 8-2.
Grand Junction managed only five hits.
COLUMBINE 15, GRAND JUNCTION 2
Columbine 031 74 – 15 13 1
Grand Junction 001 01 – 2 5 3
Columbine – Cicchinelli ss 4-1-2-2, S. Anundsen lf 3-0-2-0, Montoya cr-lf 2-1-2-4, Gillman c 4-0-2-2, Hasley cr 0-1-0-0, E. Anundsen p 3-0-1-0, Lewis cr 0-1-0-0, Fink 3b 3-2-1-1, Baum cf 2-4-1-0, Cunningham 1b 2-2-2-2, Wiggins dh 2-0-0-1, Roberts cr 0-1-0-0, Tucker 2b 1-2-0-0, Geoghegan rf, Brady p, 0-0-0-0. Totals 26-15-13-12.
Grand Junction – Higgins cf 2-0-0-0, Murray 2b 3-1-2-1, Starr ss 3-0-1-0, Novotny rf 2-0-0-0, Bernal 1b 2-0-0-0, Sawyer 3b 2-0-0-0, Koespell c 1-0-0-0, Nordine dh 2-1-2-0, Quigley lf 2-0-0-0, Baldwin p 0-0-0-0, Early p 0-0-0-0, Schreiner p 0-0-0-0. Totals 19-2-5-1.
E – Murray, Starr, Bernal, Tucker. DP – Grand Junction, Columbine, LOB – Grand Junction, 3, Columbine 9. SB – Higgins, Gillman 2, E. Anundsen, Baum 3, Cunningham, S. Anundsen. 2B – Nordine, Cunningham, Montoya.
Batteries – Baldwin, Early (4), Schreiner (5) and Koepsell; E. Anundsen, Brady (4) and Gillman. W – E. Anundsen (8-2). L – Baldwin. WP – Baldwin 2, Early. Balk – Baldwin. HBP – Williams (by Early); Fink (by Early); Baum (by Early); Tucker (by Schreiner).
GRAND JUNCTION 3, MOUNTAIN VISTA 2
Grand Junction 000 030 0 – 3 6 0
Mountain Vista 000 010 1 – 2 3 1
Sawyer and Koepsell; Katsaros and Stout. W – Sawyer (10-1). L – Katsaros. HR – Stout, MV, solo in fifth. Highlights – Sawyer, 2-for-3, RBI; Koepsell, GJ, 1-for-2, 2 RBIs, double; Nordine, 1-for-3, double.
COLUMBINE 6, FORT COLLINS 2
Fort Collins 200 000 0 – 2 7 2
Columbine 210 300 x – 6 9 1
Daniel and Reid; Montoya, Fink (6) and Gillman. W – Montoya. L – Daniel. HR – Bello, FTC, one on in first; E. Anundsen, C, one on in first; Cunningham, C, solo in second. Highlights – Montoya, C, 10 K’s; Anundsen, C, 2-for-3; Cunningham, C, 2-for-3, 3 RBIs, double.
