The new and different keep coming for Class 5A baseball, which will decide a champion Saturday at All-City Field.
When the big-school playoff field was determined earlier this month, who knew Columbine and Mountain Vista would be the last two standing?
On Friday, Columbine, which began the season ranked No. 2 but dropped five of its first six games, and Mountain Vista, a surprise Continental League champion, moved into the final rounds.
Columbine remained undefeated in the 5A Championship Series by downing Monarch 4-1. That means Mountain Vista, which held on against Chaparral 6-5, will have to beat the Rebels twice. The two will meet at noon. If Mountain Vista wins, they’ll play a final game after Broomfield takes on the Cherokee Trail- Northridge survivor at 2 p.m. for the 4A title.
“This is quite the group of guys,” Rebels coach Chuck Gillman said.
Columbine didn’t need to start ace right-hander Evan Anundsen and it didn’t matter – junior left-hander Dom Montoya went the distance in downing the Coyotes.
Montoya was touched for nine hits and required a couple of visits to the mound from the coaching staff, but rode it out, helped by four double plays.
“They played great behind me,” Montoya said after striking out four and improving to 5-4.
Montoya threw strikes throughout – he walked only one hitter – and didn’t get shaken when Monarch’s Wade Landowski ripped a double to the base of the center-field wall and came home on a sharp single by Tyler Dunn in the sixth inning.
The Rebels’ fourth double play of the game ended the inning, then Montoya retired the side in order in the seventh.
The Coyotes, who ended 20-5, had no answers.
“We couldn’t get anything going,” coach Carmen Rivas said of his program’s benchmark season.
Columbine’s will continue. The Rebels scratched out single runs in the first, fourth, fifth and sixth innings. They were held to seven hits, but were helped by four Monarch errors.
Anundsen and Curtis Cunningham provided the run-scoring hits.
Columbine, which has won 15 of its past 17 games, is 18-7.
The new ground for Mountain Vista (16-9) didn’t come easy. The Golden Eagles took a quick lead against Chaparral with a four-run first, tacked on two more in the fourth, then staved off a late bid by the Wolverines.
With James Katsaros all but handcuffing the Wolverines, they finally broke out in the sixth with a triple behind a single by Greg Crowe, then triples by Mike Smigiel and pinch-hitter Jim Matthews.
However, the play of the game came after Matthews’ blast to right field. After a walk to Danny Catts, Chaparral (18-6) attempted a double steal. The Golden Eagles nabbed a head-first-sliding Matthews at the plate on a disputed call that banished Chaparral coach Steve Eaton to the bench.
The Wolverines plated two more in the bottom of the seventh before Steve Zamora managed a one-out save.
COLUMBINE 4, MONARCH 1
Columbine 100 111 0 – 4 7 0
Monarch 000 001 0 – 1 9 4
Columbine – Cicchinelli ss 4-1-1-0, S. Anundsen lf 4-1-0-0, Gillman c 2-0-0-0, E. Anundsen dh 4-0-1-1, Hasley cr 0-0-0-0, Fink 3b 1-1-1-0, Baum cf 4-0-1-0, Cunningham 1b 3-1-2-1, Wiggins rf 2-0-0-0, Geoghegan rf 0-0-0-0, Lewis rf 1-0-0-0, Tucker 2b 4-0-1-0, Montoya p 0-0-0-0. Totals 29-4-7-2.
Monarch – Goldstein lf 3-0-0-0, Valenzuela rf 2-0-0-0, Raudenbush c 3-0-1-0, Archbold cr 0-0-0-0, Landowski ss 3-1-1-0, Dunn cf 3-0-3-1, Smart 3b 3-0-1-0, Manders 1b 3-0-1-0, Vaughn dh 3-0-2-0, Ray 2b 2-0-0-0, Bartsch p 0-0-0-0, Sawicki p 0-0-0-0. Totals 25-1-9-1.
E – Ray 2, Smart 2, LOB – Columbine 11 Monarch 5. SB – Dunn, S. Anundsen, Baum. CS – Gillman, Cunningham. DP – Columbine 4. SAC – Ray, Geogheghan. 2B – Cicchinelli, Vaughn, Landowski. Batteries – Montoya and Gillman; Bartsch, Sawicki (6) and Raudenbush. W – Montoya (5-4). L – Bartsch (8-1). HBP – Fink (by Bartsch).
MOUNTAIN VISTA 6, CHAPARRAL 5
Mountain Vista 400 200 0 – 6 7 2
Chaparral 000 003 2 – 5 6 3
Mountain Vista – Robinson lf 3-1-1-0, Harman 2b 4-0-2-3, Haezebrouck 1b 3-0-0-0, Beck rf 3-1-1-0, Schugel 3b 3-1-1-0, Stout c 4-1-0-0, Zamora dh-p 3-1-2-1, Higgins ss 2-0-0-0, Cruz cf 2-1-0-0, Katsaros p 0-0-0-0. Totals 27-7-6-4.
Chaparral – Roybal c 3-1-0-0, Serena ss 3-0-0-0, Crowe rf 4-2-3-1, Smigiel 3b 3-0-1-1, Johnson cr 0-1-0-0, Widhalm cr 0-0-0-0, Frank dh 4-0-1-1, McKnight p-cf 3-1-0-0, Gaudet cf-lf 2-0-0-0, Matthews ph 1-0-1-2, Catts 1b 1-0-0-0, Merkle lf 1-0-0-0, Gumieny p 2-0-0-0, Peterson 2b 0-0-0-0. Totals 27-5-6-5.
E – Serena 2, Peterson, Katsaros 2. LOB – Mountain Vista 5, Chaparral 7. SB – Robertson. CS – Schugel, Matthews. SAC – Haezebrouck, Higgins. 2B – Harman, Crowe 2, Schugel. 3B – Smigiel, Gaudet. Batteries – Katsaros, Zamora (7) and Sout; McKnight, Gumieny (5) and Roybal. W – Katsaros (8-1). L – McKnight (4-2). S – Zamora. WP – McKnight 2. PB – Roybal. HBP – McKnight (by Katsaros); Roybal (by Katsaros).
