No, Alex Kelly wasn’t showing off.
It was just that elation got to him as he pointed to his Rocky Mountain teammates after he crushed a grand slam and pointed the Lobos to another prime position in the Class 5A championship series.
Kelly’s blast with two outs in the top of the sixth inning Saturday was the difference as the Lobos outlasted a game Chatfield 8-5 at All-City Field and lifted the defending champion Lobos to their eighth consecutive championship series victory. They’re in command heading into the final weekend of the season and enter Friday’s next round assured of playing for another state title.
“I knew it right away,” Kelly said of his shot to left-center field. “It felt good to finally break through.”
Kelly’s homer came after Bryan Peters had walked with the bases loaded to score Nick Wunsch, who had doubled. It tied the score and was after Jake Stewart went down swinging as the Lobos had threatened to leave the bases loaded three times in six innings.
“I think I set a record for jumping up and down in the third-base coaching box,” Lobos coach Scott Bullock said.
Rocky Mountain had struggled all game against Chatfield starter and loser Mark Shannon, who battled the potent Lobos pitch by pitch.
“We’re in the third game in two days and (the Chargers) had that kid left?” Bullock wondered. “He was outstanding.”
Later, Shannon homered to lead off the bottom of the seventh and catcher Jake Davis drew a one-out walk before Andy Burns, who had come on in relief of Richard Daggett in the sixth, finally ended it.
Shannon and Daggett kept their teams in it — Rocky Mountain had taken leads of 2-0 and 3-2, and Chatfield settled for single runs in five innings, but wasn’t able to put anything big together.
“They have an outstanding club,” Bullock said of the Chargers (19-5).
Said Chatfield coach Mike Yansak: “Rocky Mountain is probably the most disciplined team hittingwise we’ve played, they’re very, very patient . . . but, yeah, (Shannon) battled, he pitched a heck of a game.
“We like our depth on the mound and our kids are real hungry. They take this real personally and they’re going to come back out.”
The bottom of the order was big for the Chargers, led by Jack Mills’ 3-for-3, with a homer and double, and Jon Watson’s 2-for-3.
Kelly, headed to Colorado State to play football, and Marco Gonzales each rapped two hits for the Lobos and Burns walked three times.
“We learned one thing from this weekend — we know we have our work cut out for us,” Bullock said.
Rocky Mountain 201 005 0 — 8 9 3
Chatfield 110 110 1 — 5 9 2
Rocky Mountain — Burns ss-p 1-1-0-0, Peters 3b-ss 3-2-1-1, Stewart cf 4-2-1-0, Kelly 1b 4-1-2-4, Gonzales lf 4-0-2-2, Roglen rf 4-0-1-0, Wunsch c 3-1-1-1, Bean dh 3-1-1-0, Daggett p-2b 4-0-0-0, White cr 0-0-0-0, Trumper 2b-3b 0-0-0-0. Totals 30-8-9-8.
Chatfield — Shannon p-cf 3-2-1-1, Coy 2b 4-0-0-0, Davis c 3-1-2-1, Crubaugh 3b 4-0-1-0, Camporeale lf 4-0-0-0, Rogers rf 3-0-0-0, Ahrens dh 2-0-0-0, Joyce ph 1-0-0-0, Mills 1b 3-2-3-1, Watson ss 3-0-2-0, Fritze cf 0-0-0-0, Urbano p 0-0-0-0. Totals 30-5-9-3.
E — Crubaugh, Burns, Wunsch, Daggett. LOB — Rocky Mountain 7, Chatfield 6. DP — Rocky Mountain. Chatfield SB — Burns.
2B — Davis, Wunsch, Mills. HR — Mills, solo in fourth; Kelly, grand slam in sixth; Shannon, solo in seventh.
Batteries — Daggett, Burns (6) and Wunsch; Shannon, Urbano (7) and Davis. W — Daggett. L — Shannon. HBP — Wunsch by Shannon; Bean (by Urbano).
ARAPAHOE 10, CHAPARRAL 6
Arapahoe 200 030 5 — 10 12 3
Chaparral 002 210 1 — 6 10 4
Chaparral — Serena 3b 4-0-0-0, Roberts 2b 4-0-0-0, Hirschberg rf 4-1-2-1, Burton 1b 4-2-2-1, Wallace ss 2-0-1-0, Higan ph 1-0-0-0, Graff dh 3-0-1-0, Mathews 2-1-0-0, Duffy c 3-0-3-0, Mantelon 0-1-0-0, Schmunk cf 3-1-1-2, Billingsley p 0-0-0-0, Pachelli 0-0-0-0. Totals 30-6-10-4.
Arapahoe — Brewer ss 4-1-1-1, Sudduth dh 4-2-2-1, Guymon lf 2-2-0-0, Byrd c 4-1-1-1, Overton 1b 5-1-2-1, Davidson rf 4-1-3-2, Kible 2b 4-0-1-0, Holland 3b 4-1-1-1, Soehngen cf 2-1-1-0, Whittemore p 0-0-0-0. Totals 33-10-12-7.
E — Serena, Wallace 2, Brewers 2, Davidson. LOB — Chaparral 5, Arapahoe 9. SB — Schmunk, Sudduth, Brewer.
2B — Graff, Kible, Byrd. HR — Schmunk, one on in third; Burton, solo in fourth; Hirsch, solo in seventh.
Batteries — Billingsley, Mathews (6), Burton (7) and Duffy; Whittemore and Byrd. W — Whittemore. L — Mathews.
ARAPAHOE 8, DAKOTA RIDGE 5
Arapahoe 120 311 0 — 8 10 0
Dakota Ridge 000 014 0 — 5 6 0
Arapahoe — Brewer ss 3-2-2-1, Sudduth dh 4-1-2-0, Guymon lf 3-0-1-0, Byrd c 4-1-1-3, Overton 1b 4-1-1-1, Davidson rf 2-0-0-0, Kible 2b 3-1-1-0, Holland 3b 4-2-2-3, Soehngen cf 4-0-0-0, Davis p 0-0-0-0, Henderson p 0-0-0-0. Totals 31-8-10-8.
Dakota Ridge — Phelan cf 3-1-1-2, Melton 2b 2-1-0-0, Cain 3b 3-0-0-0, Ochoa c 2-0-1-1, McCulley ph 1-0-1-1, Whitaker p-rf 4-0-1-1, VanderVelde dh 3-0-1-0, Rosco rf 3-1-0-0, Fern ph 1-0-1-0, Ellison ss-p 1-1-0-0, Espinoza pr 0-0-0-0, Pritchett lf 2-1-0-0, Brown 1b 0-0-0-0. Totals 25-5-6-5.
E — None. LOB — Arapahoe 10, Dakota Ridge 8. SB — Meltob 3, Cain, Whitaker, Phelan.
2B — Phelan, McCulley, Guymon, Brewer. HR — Brewer, solo in first; Holland, one on in second; Byrd, two on in fourth; Overton, solo in sixth.
Batteries — Davis, Henderson (7) and Byrd; Whitaker, Ellison (4) and Ochoa. W — Davis. L — Whitaker.
Neil H. Devlin: 303-954-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com
