Aurora – Columbine senior right-hander Kelsey O’Brien throws a mean riser.
Just ask the Arvada West Wildcats, who defeated the Rebels 5-1 on Saturday in the championship game of the 16-team Dave Sanders Memorial Tournament at Aurora Sports Park.
Trailing by a run in the top of the sixth inning – after O’Brien posted six of her nine strikeouts for the game and was looking at a one-hitter – the Wildcats started laying off O’Brien’s wicked pitch. They waited for better opportunities and took the lead on four hits as they cruised to victory. Two doubles in the seventh helped A-West score a final run.
“She throws a lot of rise balls,” said Wildcats senior catcher Candace Kaufman, who hit the run-scoring double in the seventh. “It was hard to stay off it. We knew she had a riser. It was a team effort to stay off it, and then we started hitting the ball.”
Wildcats senior pitcher Christy Grubbs kept her teammates’ confidence intact with a two-hitter while fanning seven batters. “My curve was working, and also my drop and rise,” Grubbs said.
Grubbs said A-West, which will meet Columbine in Jefferson County League play during the regular season, knew what O’Brien was bringing to the mound.
“We just went back to mechanics on how to hit,” she said. “We figured her out.”
Kelsey Alsdorf put Columbine ahead in the first inning after reaching on a double and scoring on Ashlee Williams’ single to right-center field.
Megan Johnson started the Wildcats’ big sixth inning with a walk. Kaufman’s sacrifice bunt moved her to second and Liz Kramer drove Johnson home with a single down the left-field line to tie it. Grubbs hit into a fielder’s choice, and Kramer and Mikey Kenny scored on an error at home to make it 3-1. Carly DeLorenzo capped the inning with a double to center that brought Grubbs home.
First-year Arvada West coach Stephanie Roberts praised both pitchers.
“She’s a very good pitcher,” Roberts said of O’Brien. “She has a very effective rise ball. But our bats came around. And Christy pitched a very good game for us.”
Arvada West 000 004 1 – 5 8 1
Columbine 100 000 0 – 1 2 1
Arvada West – Johnson ss 4-2-2-0, Kaufman c 4-0-1-0, Kramer 1b 4-1-1-0, Kenny cf 4-1-1-1, Wambeke 3b 3-0-0-0, 4-1-0-0, Grubbs p 4-1-0-0, DeLorenzo 3-0-1-0, Baker rf 3-0-2-0, Tani lf 2-0-0-0, Carlson lf 1-0-0-0. Totals 32-5-8-2.
Columbine – Alsdorf 2b 3-1-1-0, Bond dh 3-0-0-0, O’Brien p 3-0-0-0, Williams cf 3-0-1-0, Williams 1b 3-0-0-0, Barbour rf 3-0-0-0, Boyle c 3-0-0-0, Walen ss 2-0-0-0, Carpinello 3b 2-0-0-0. Totals 25-1-2-1.
E – Johnson, Kaufman. LOB – Arvada West 4, Columbine 2. DP – Arvada West. SB – Kenny, Williams. SAC – Kaufman, Kramer, O’Brien, Bond.
2B – DeLorenzo, Kaufman, Johnson.
Batteries – Grubbs and Kaufman; O’Brien and Boyle. W – Grubbs. L – O’Brien.
