Jefferson County – Curtis Cunningham is leaning back in his stance Tuesday, just like all good sluggers do.
With his weight back, his eyes dialed in and his hands practically twitching, it’s no wonder the Columbine junior has blasted six home runs since the Class 5A district tournament began, including three two-run shots in a 16-6 win over Regis last Saturday.
Right now, though, practice is over and Cunningham is sitting in Qdoba, staring down a fat chicken burrito with Rebels teammate and close friend C.J. Gillman. Cunningham is taking up an old gauntlet: Consume the megasized wrap in less than 52 seconds and dethrone C.J.
“He’s a freak, but he’s not that good,” C.J. said of his 6-foot-2, 265-pound companion.
He’s right. Cunningham needs 70 seconds to inhale all the poultry, rice and beans. Dejected? Yes. But Cunningham needs only a few seconds for the return of the “life is peachy” smile that presides easily over his broad, broad shoulders.
This spectacle of scarf and Cunningham’s penchant for pulverizing the baseball might make you think he’s just – in his own words – a “big fat slughead.”
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Sans the burrito record, Cunningham is the hottest thing going at Columbine, where the defending state champions have hit, pitched and scratched their way back to the final four of the state championship series.
The hulking yet surprisingly nimble first baseman, who was also The Post’s defensive player of the year in football, has been ingesting pitchers at an alarming rate.
Cunningham was 7-for-10 at the plate with four home runs, one triple, a stolen base and 10 RBIs in three games last weekend.
In the two-game district tournament a week prior, he was 3-for-6 with two home runs and three RBIs.
Considering he went deep just twice in the first 13 games of the season, the obvious question stands out like a weak fastball. What’s gotten into him?
“I don’t know where it came from,” Cunningham said. “I guess it’s just good swings. I like to take the mentality that I’m going to hit it hard every time I’m at the plate.”
And that produces more ping than a sonar-searching submarine.
“I’ve never seen anybody hit the ball like that,” C.J. said. “Every year it’s the same thing: He starts out a little slow at the beginning, but then come playoffs it’s like a different dude. He starts hitting the ball out of the yard like it’s nothing.”
By the time Cunningham hit his third yardball against Regis, C.J. said anything short of the fence is almost anticlimactic.
“When you get up to the plate and double off the wall and everyone is disappointed, you know you’re pretty good,” C.J. says.
So, in the asterisk era of baseball, should anyone be checking Cunningham’s bat? C.J. does all the time.
“That’s the worse part, though,” C.J. says. “He lets me use his bat and I still don’t hit them out.”
Cunningham’s power means more good pitches for the Rebels, who are swinging better with C.J., shortstop Jeff Cicchinelli, third baseman Kyler Brady, pitcher Scott Anundsen and senior Patrick Geoghegan.
The Rebels (17-7) will need all of them to defeat rival Wheat Ridge (20-3) on Friday, a game that is sure to have some added spice considering both schools won football state titles in the fall (Wheat Ridge in 4A).
Somewhere past left field, on the roof of Columbine High School, is a junkyard of moonshot baseballs.
“They all say ‘Curtis’ on it because no one else can reach that building,” Rebels coach Chuck Gillman said.
Cunningham doesn’t park one on the school at practice Tuesday, but he does swat one over the fence. He still gets a reaction, though, proving the unfading appeal of the homer.
Which, of course, begs another question: Do chicks really dig the long ball?
“I don’t know,” Cunningham says with a big smile. “I think chicks dig the win.”
