GREELEY — A future kindergarten teacher refused to be intimidated.
At Wednesday’s opening of Colorado’s annual All-State Games for graduated seniors, at the University of Northern Colorado, Pomona’s Ashley Martinez found herself in the batter’s box in the top of the seventh inning against Legacy’s Shelby Babcock, the three-time player of the year.
Having popped up twice, Martinez, hitting last in the North order, was looking for something to drive. She got it and delivered a two-run triple to lead the North to a 7-5 victory over the South in softball.
“On all of my at-bats, I was visualizing hitting and pulling it, but I was popping it up,” the Adams State-bound Martinez said.
However, on her way to becoming a teacher for 5-year-olds, Martinez knows she’ll have to have patience, and she displayed it against Babcock, who earlier this week was selected Colorado’s Gatorade player of the year.
“I just tried not to let her intimidate me,” Martinez said. “I just tried to treat her like any other pitcher, and I got a hit.”
Martinez’s three-bagger to left-center field broke a 4-4 tie and scored Carly DeLorenza (Arvada West) and Sydney Bell (Ralston Valley).
“I’ve played against these girls for a long time, and it’s hard to pitch to them because we know each other,” said Babock, who will play next season at Arizona. “But I think we all had a lot of fun.”
The game didn’t happen a year ago, when a late-spring storm packing plenty of hail canceled it, and this year’s version featured rotating pitchers and more offense than usual. More offense should also be relevant next season, when the pitching rubber will be moved back from 40 to 43 feet.
Babcock had a run-scoring single in the first inning and Kelsey Martinez of Pueblo South added an RBI triple and scored on a passed ball for the South, which led 4-0 after three innings.
The North tied it in the top of the fourth and included RBI singles by Gianna Duncan (Wheat Ridge), Megan Wilkinson (Windsor) and Jennifer Hedrick (Ralston Valley).
Babcock, who carried her Lightning team to three consecutive Class 5A titles, didn’t blink at losing her final prep game.
“We’re all like family here,” she said. “It was fun.”
The games will continue Saturday with football (5 p.m.), boys (1 p.m.) and girls (3 p.m.) basketball, wrestling (9 a.m.) and volleyball (11:15 a.m.) on the UNC campus.
North 000 400 3 — 7 10 0
South 202 000 1 — 5 10 1
W — Wilkinson (Windsor). L — Babcock (Legacy). Highlights — A. Martinez (Pomona), 3B, 2 RBIs; Bell (Ralston Valley), 2-for-3, 2B; Ruiz (Erie), 2-for-3, 3B.
