AURORA — The Ralston Valley Mustangs are sick. In a good way.
A year after winning their second Class 4A state softball title, the Mustangs are back in the state semifinals. This time in 5A. And at the expense of top-seeded Rocky Mountain.
The No. 8 Mustangs got a three-run homer to left and steady pitching from junior Meghan Murphy to stun the Lobos 9-1 on Friday in the opening day of the state tournament at the Aurora Sports Complex.
“I think we’ve peaked when we needed to peak,” Murphy said. “Now we’re just escalating more. . . . It’s contagious energy.”
The Mustangs (16-7) advanced to face No. 4 Mountain Vista (20-3), which defeated Pomona and Chaparral to advance. The Golden Eagles scored early on Chaparral and rode the pitching of senior Kelly Unkrich.
“We’ve never made Saturday,” Unkrich said. “So that was our main goal. I said, ‘I want to make Saturday before I graduate.’ ”
The pitching duel of 5A went to Legacy’s Shelby Babcock and Columbine’s Kelsey O’Brien, who struck out 14 against Brighton in the morning. Babcock stymied the Rebels and had an RBI double to key a three-run fourth inning as the Lightning advanced with a 4-0 victory.
No. 2 Legacy (21-2) will face No. 3 Bear Creek (21-2), which throttled Highland Ranch 13-2 in six innings to return to the semifinals a year after losing in the final to Rocky Mountain.
The 4A bracket was thrown into chaos as just one of the top four seeds survived. No. 7 Mountain View (18-5) upset No. 2 Northridge 1-0 in nine innings as third baseman Jasmine Grentz’s hit scored the winning run.
“I was just relaxed,” Grentz said of her last trip to the plate. “I was just saying, ‘This is it. I need this. It would be the best thing.’ ”
The Mountain Lions will face No. 14 Frederick. The Warriors (17-7) shocked No. 3 D’Evelyn in the first round before knocking out No. 11 Mullen 5-4 in nine innings to advance.
No. 1 Wheat Ridge (21-2) cruised into the semifinals 7-2 behind three home runs to oust Jefferson County League foe Conifer. The Farmers will face No. 12 Windsor (17-7), which clubbed No. 5 Falcon 18-0 and No. 4 Castle View 7-3.
The 3A bracket had one surprise, although that might be relative. No. 6 Platte Canyon (15-5) dispatched Eaton 11-1 before burying No. 3 La Junta by the same score.
“We’ve hit the ball real well this season,” Huskies coach Don Carpenter said. “I had all the confidence coming in we could hit the ball off any of these pitchers.”
The Huskies will face No. 2 Erie (19-2), which defeated Limon 5-1 to advance.
The parochial showdown went to the wire as No. 1 Holy Family (18-1) broke a late tie to defeat No. 9 Faith Christian 4-3. The Tigers will face No. 4 Valley (14-7), which needed 10 innings to finally subdue 12th-seeded Cheyenne Wells by a 3-2 score.
