The Jefferson County League’s “big switch” in softball this year seems to be an even-up trade.
Wheat Ridge, long a powerhouse in Class 5A, drops to 4A, only to be replaced by Ralston Valley, which concluded its final year in 4A by winning the school’s first softball championship.
And the door is open for Wheat Ridge. Cherokee Trail (a quarterfinalist) and Liberty (first-round loser) also have moved to 5A, and runner-up Pueblo Central is rebuilding. Wheat Ridge, which won titles in 2002 and 2003, reached the 5A semifinals a year ago.
Ralston Valley lost only three seniors and would be the odds-on favorite to add a 5A title in its first season if not for defending champion Legacy, which returns the bulk of its lineup, particularly the 2007 player of the year, pitcher Shelby Babcock.
“Anybody that doesn’t know Ralston Valley is going to find out pretty quick,” Pomona coach Jim Biddle said. “They’re a top-five team.”
As usual, Jeffco, the state’s deepest league in 5A, features heavyweights in Bear Creek, which lost 2-0 in the finals, and Columbine, which reached the final four last year and returns two of the state’s elite pitchers — Mallorie Sulaski and Kelsey O’Brien (coming off two fractured wrists).
Meanwhile, Legacy coach Dawn Gaffin went so far as to order T-shirts for the Lightning with a big target on the back with the words: “Go ahead . . . take your best shots . . . we will.”
“We don’t care what anybody else thinks, we’re going to be focused,” Gaffin said.
Mullen, which plays a 5A schedule in the Centennial League, and D’Evelyn of the Jeffco rate as 4A contenders along with a bevy of Northern League teams and Pueblo East, Pueblo South and Pueblo West from the South Central League.
In 3A, not much may change, with Erie and Holy Family seemingly primed for another showdown.
The two schools have met in the finals the past three years, with Holy Family snapping Erie’s title run of six straight for the decade in 2006, only to see Erie win last year.
However, Erie lost six seniors, and coach Bob Bledsoe said the Tigers’ hitting may be difficult to replace, while Holy Family lost only two starters and added Amy Christopher, a transfer from Monarch.
