Englewood – Broomfield baseball coach Garren Estes knows some fan will jokingly ask why the Eagles didn’t save some runs for next weekend.
Broomfield advanced as the only unbeaten team remaining in the Class 4A championship series double-elimination format by trouncing Northridge 17-3 on Saturday at Englewood’s Harry Wise Field. The game mercifully ended after five innings because of the 10-run rule.
With Friday’s win, Broomfield combined for 25 runs in two victories.
“Yeah, can we just start carrying over some runs?” Estes said. “That would be nice, wouldn’t it?”
Broomfield (18-6) pounced on Northridge with four runs in the first inning on three hits, and then the Eagles’ bats came alive. Sophomore left-fielder Jarod Berggren belted a two-run homer in the second inning. Senior first baseman Curt Siebenaller kick-started a seven-run third with a leadoff homer. And junior shortstop Chris Grandinetti cleared the bases with a grand slam in the fourth.
“I hadn’t been getting a lot of good pitches to hit so it felt good to whack one,” Grandinetti said. “It’s getting ridiculous how we’re hitting the ball. I’ve never seen anything like it. We just want it so bad.”
Talk about timely hitting: Broomfield needed only 12 hits to score 17 runs Saturday.
“The boys have been real disciplined at the plate,” Estes said. “We faced some pretty good pitchers the last two days. But we knew if we were disciplined, we’d get some pitches we could hit. Against Northridge, a team we know so well from being in our league, it was nice to put them on the ropes early.”
Broomfield took advantage of six Northridge errors.
“(The Tigers) are a team that, when they get rolling, they can put up a lot of runs,” Northridge coach Mike Huston said. “Every time you make an error, they’re going to get two hits and hurt you.”
Northridge (17-7) knew it would advance in the championship series regardless of the outcome against Broomfield. The Grizzlies must shake off visions of their pitching staff getting pummeled.
“Our approach was to win two of three games to advance, and we did that,” Huston said. “We’re still in this thing. We’ll be OK.”
Cañon City (14-9) advanced to the final weekend of the 4A championship series with a 12-2 victory over D’Evelyn. The game ended in the bottom of the sixth inning because of the 10-run rule.
Junior hurler Cameron Maldonado earned the victory and helped himself by knocking in two runs in the third inning.
In Greeley, Aurora’s Cherokee Trail emerged with two victories at Butch Butler Field.
The Cougars opened by downing Jefferson County champion Ralston Valley 4-0, then followed with a 5-3 victory over Colorado Springs’ Liberty.
BROOMFIELD 17, NORTHRIDGE 3
Broomfield 427 40 – 17 12 2
Northridge 020 10 – 3 6 6
Broomfield – McBride cf 1-4-1-0, Berggren lf 4-3-3-2, Grandinetti ss 4-2-2-7, Siebenaller 1b 4-2-2-2, Oliver p 3-1-1-0; Arapkiles 2b 2-2-0-0, Kessler c 4-1-2-4, Lontine 3b 3-0-0-0, Craddock 3b 1-0-0-0, Alexander dh 4-2-1-0. Totals 30-17-12-15.
Northridge – deBesche p 3-0-0-0, Ferguson 2b 3-0-0-0, Morgan 1b 2-0-0-0, Keil 1b 1-0-0-0, J. Wallace c 3-1-2-0, Huston cf 3-2-2-0, Maldonaldo lf 1-0-0-0, Mansfield lf 1-0-0-0, Roybal dh 1-0-0-0, Carmin p 0-0-0-0, Puga 3b 1-0-0-0, Hood 3b 1-0-0-0, C. Wallace ss 2-0-2-2. Totals 22-3-6-2.
E- Arapkiles, Huston, Puga (4), C. Wallace, Grandinetti. LOB – Broomfield 3, Northridge 5. 2B – Siebenaller, McBride, Kessler, Huston (2). HR – Berggren, B, one on in second; Siebenaller, B, nobody on in the third; Grandinetti, B, three on in the fourth.
Batteries – Oliver, Hamilton (4) and Kessler. deBesche, Reyez (3), Carmin (4) and J. Wallace. W – Oliver. L – deBesche. HBP – McBride (by deBesche in the third). Balk – Reyez.
D’EVELYN 7, THOMAS JEFFERSON 5
D’Evelyn 300 200 2 – 7 11 0
Thomas Jefferson 001 300 1 – 5 3 1
Batteries – Harbaugh, Graeve (5) and Sylvester. Smith, Howell (5), Qui (6) and Maloney. W – Harbaugh. L – Smith. Highlights – two-run double by Goetz (D) in first; two-run double by Sylvester (D) in fourth; two-run double by Goetz in sixth.
CAÑON CITY 12, D’EVELYN 2
D’Evelyn 001 100 – 2 4 2
Cañon City 022 404 – 12 13 2
Batteries – Wilson, Schaffer (4), Graeve (6) and Sylvester. Maldonado, Gorham (5) and McCain. W – Maldonado. L – Wilson. HR – McBeth, C, one on in the second. Highlights – Maldonado, C, knocked in two with two-out single in third; Wendt, C, drove in two with bases-loaded single in fourth. Game ends on 10-run rule on McCain SF in sixth.
