GREENWOOD VILLAGE — If Antarctica were a softball mecca, perhaps this is what games would feel like.
Not to imply it was frigid Thursday on the Cherry Creek diamond, but when Mullen third baseman Jenna D’Ottavio stepped on third base for the final out in the Mustangs’ 11-8 Centennial League win, her first comment after leaving the field said it all.
“I have never been this cold in my 18 years of life,” she bellowed to no one in particular.
The temperature hovered in the high 40-degree range, but a piercing west-to-east wind relentlessly whipped across the field, transforming a few routine popups into singles and causing havoc for the fielders and pitchers.
“It was freezing,” Mullen shortstop Shannon Lembeck said. “But we’re a strong enough team that we got through it.”
And to think, Cherry Creek (12-6, 8-5) loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the seventh, meaning a bases- clearing hit would have forced colder extra innings. Instead, Mullen pitcher Gia Marquez coaxed back-to-back groundballs to third to end it.
Mullen (14-4, 9-4), the lone 4A team in the otherwise 5A league, had been in a recent funk, having dropped three of its past four. The Mustangs also lost the first matchup against Creek, 7-3 last month, so getting back on track was priority No. 1 (other than finding warmth).
“This was one we definitely needed to get our confidence back before the really big games come around,” said Lembeck, who paced the Mustangs’ 14-hit attack by going 3-for-4 with a triple and three RBIs.
Leadoff hitter Lindsey Shell went 2-for-4 with three runs and two RBIs for the Mustangs, who escaped a wacky first three innings with a 9-7 lead before things settled down a bit.
“The weather had a big effect on the game,” Cherry Creek coach Bob Gonzalez said. “It’s tough for the pitchers, hitters and fielders when it’s just cold. I don’t even know what the wind-chill factor was.”
Cherry Creek scored seven runs in the first two innings but managed only one more against the persevering Mar- quez. Only three of the runs were earned against the sophomore, who struck out seven.
Mullen 153 002 0 — 11 14 4
Cherry Creek 430 010 0 — 8 10 4
Mullen (ab-r-h-rbi) — Shell cf 4-3-2-2, Lembeck ss 4-2-3-3, D’Ottavio 3b 4-1-2-1, Hawkins c 3-0-2-0, Marquez p 3-0-0-0, Skene 1b 4-2-2-0, Vigil lf 4-2-2-0, Gomez rf 3-1-0-0, Panazzo dh 4-0-1-1, Duran 2b 4-0-1-1. Totals 33-11-14-7.
Cherry Creek — Leonard 2b 4-1-1-0, Davies ss 5-1-0-0, Springer c 3-2-1-0, Pavel 1b 4-2-2-0, Sendel 3b 4-1-0-1, Armstrong lf 4-1-2-2, Gurule dh 2-0-0-0, Zuppa ph-dh 2-0-2-1, Rinetti rf 4-0-2-0, Gifford cf 4-0-0-0. Totals 36-8-10-4.
E — Duran 2, D’Ottavio 2, Davies 2, Springer, Harris. LOB — Mullen 4, Cherry Creek 10. 2B — Vigil, Leonard, Armstrong. 3B — Lembeck. SB — Shell, Hawkins, Springer. CS — D’Ottavio. SAC — Marquez. HBP — Hawkins.
Batteries — Harris and Springer. W — Mar- quez (12-3). L — Harris (12-5). T — 2:09.
