To gear up for perhaps the most significant regular-season game in the history of the D’Evelyn softball program, several Jaguars students dressed as hayseeds to mock visiting Wheat Ridge’s mascot, the Farmers.
“It was kind of intimidating,” Wheat Ridge pitcher Stephanie Routzon said.
Perhaps Routzon (9-1) was just being polite. The top-ranked Farmers looked anything but panic-stricken in an efficient 5-1 win over the fourth-ranked Jaguars in the key Class 4A Jefferson County League matchup.
Wheat Ridge scored four runs in the third, and Routzon made it stand up with an eight-strikeout performance.
“We have an all-around great team that knows how to pick each other up,” Routzon said.
Great might be understating it, considering the Farmers (11-1-1) seem a bit overqualified for 4A. They have outscored foes a composite 128-10 and have not lost to a 4A team since dropping to the classification last season.
After scoring its first run on a Jaguars error, Wheat Ridge got an RBI single from Gianna Duncan (who was celebrating her birthday) and a laser-beam two-run triple to right field by Amanda Arias-Young.
“It had backspin, so the fielder came up and it went over her,” Arias-Young said. “I tripped on some loose dirt rounding first, and when I got to third, (coach Marty Stricklett) said, ‘You could have had a home run.’ “
D’Evelyn (11-2) got a run back in the bottom of the third on an RBI single by Rachel Reinke, but that was it for the Jags.
The Jaguars returned all nine starters this season and had their sights set on proving they had narrowed the gap on the defending champs.
“We just have to learn not to get frazzled and avoid the little mistakes,” D’Evelyn coach Dan Porreco said.
The Jaguars are hoping for another crack at Wheat Ridge in the postseason. For now, the Farmers are undeterred. Even by hayseeds.
Wheat Ridge 004 000 1 — 5 7 1
D’Evelyn 001 000 0 — 1 5 3
Wheat Ridge (ab-r-h-rbi) — Mathewson cf 3-1-0-0, G. Duncan 3b 4-1-1-1, Madsen rf 3-1-2-0, Wilkie c 4-0-0-1, Arias-Young 4-0-1-2, P. Duncan 1b 3-0-0-0, Thies 2b 3-0-0-0, Routzon p 3-0-1-0, Ankoviak lf 3-2-2-0. Totals 30-5-7-4.
D’Evelyn — R. Reinke ss 3-0-2-1, Dille 3b 3-0-1-0, H. Reinke p 3-0-0-0, Bergman 1b 3-0-1-0, Thompson c 3-0-1-0, Berres dh 3-0-0-0, McKenna 2b 3-0-0-0, Porreco rf 2-1-0-0, Helfer cf 1-0-0-0, Kinsey lf 0-0-0-0. Totals 24-1-5-1.
E — Theis, McKenna 2, Thompson. LOB — Wheat Ridge 4, D’Evelyn 4. 3B — Arias-Young, R. Reinke. SB — Madsen, Ankoviak. SAC — Mathewson.
Batteries — Routzon and Wilkie; H. Reinke and Thompson. W — Routzon (9-1). L — H. Reinke (8-1). T — 1:37.
