In its first 15 games this season, Cherry Creek had hardly been challenged. But Saturday afternoon at Mullen High School, the Bruins found themselves in an unusual situation — trailing after the midway point.
They weren’t worried, and it showed.
Cherry Creek rallied from a two-run deficit with a five-run fifth inning en route to a 12-5 victory over Centennial League foe Mullen.
The Bruins (16-0, 11-0) tied the game at five with two outs in the fifth on Conor McCabe’s two-run home run. Two batters later, Ricky Sullivan’s RBI single drove in Jeremiah English for the eventual winning run.
“We’ve had a great year. We haven’t had to fight back (too often),” Cherry Creek coach Marc Johnson said. “To conjure up a little rally was good for us.”
Despite trailing with only seven outs left, Cherry Creek’s players say they weren’t worried.
“We were pretty confident,” McCabe said. “We knew that if we played as good as we can that we’d be able to pull it out.”
It didn’t hurt that Mullen (11-4, 7-3) had some defensive lapses. After a groundout to open the fifth, Mustangs starter Steve Covello walked Brett Olsson. Then a flyball to right field was misplayed by Jake McGuire, although he was able to recover and throw out Olsson, who thought the ball would be caught, at second base.
But the momentum was shifting. Two pitches later, McCabe’s drive to left-center field evened the score.
“Obviously, we put up five there to take the lead. But you’ve got to go keep the momentum, put up another goose egg. But Cherry Creek did a good job of responding and answering,” Mullen coach Vince Porreco. “They changed the momentum, and in baseball, momentum is a big part of it.”
Cherry Creek pounded out 15 hits, including four by third baseman Duncan Satherlie, who doubled twice and homered in the third inning to kick off the scoring. Leadoff batter Kevin O’Connor and catcher Jon Shoutta had three hits each.
Cherry Creek 002 151 3 — 12 15 2
Mullen 000 500 0 — 5 8 5
Cherry Creek — O’Connor 2b 5-3-3-2, Satherlie 3b 5-2-4-3, Shantz ss 5-0-0-0, Mielnicki 1b 3-0-1-0, Bodaness ph 1-0-0-0, Olsson lf 2-1-0-0, Shoutta c 4-1-3-1, McCabe rf 4-1-1-2, English dh 2-2-2-0, Phillips pr 0-1-0-0, Sullivan cf, 3-1-1-1. Totals 34-12-15-9.
Mullen — Schenk cf 4-1-2-3, James ss 3-0-0-0, Thornburg c 4-0-1-0, S. Smith 3b 4-1-1-0, Gilmore lf 3-0-0-0, Sandberg dh 3-1-1-1, Lahn 1b 3-1-2-0, McGuire rf 3-0-0-0, K. Smith 2b 3-1-1-1. Totals 30-5-8-5.
E — Satherlie 2; Schenk, McGuire, Lahn, Smith, James. LOB — Cherry Creek 7; Mullen 5. SAC — Sullivan. 2B — Satherlie 2, Shoutta, English; Thornburg, S. Smith, Sandberg. HR — Satherlie, CC, one on in third; McCabe, CC, one on in fifth; Schenk, M, two on in fourth.
Batteries — Snyder, Hutchinson (5), Bell (7) and Shoutta; Covello, James (7) and Thornburg. W — Snyder. L — Covello. PB — Shoutta. Balk — Snyder. HBP — English (by Covello in fourth); Olsson (be Covello in sixth). Time — 2:07.
