AURORA — After the Highlands Ranch softball team pulled off a shocker to win the Dave Sanders Memorial Tournament on Saturday, a Falcons spectator said, “It was like someone up there was looking out for us.”
Perhaps someone was. Highlands Ranch coach Jeff Markle was a student and baseball player under Sanders in the early 1990s and when the teacher-softball/baseball coach became a casualty of the Columbine shootings in 1999.
That’s why the Falcons’ 8-7 win over previously unbeaten Fruita Monument at Aurora Sports Park, in which they scored the final three runs with two outs in the seventh inning, was so exceptional.
“It’s special,” Markle said. “Every time we come out here we talk about Dave and what he meant for softball.”
Sanders likely would have been proud of the Highlands Ranch (7-2) rally, which culminated when Dan- ielle Friel laced a two-run double to right-center, scoring Dani Frandsen with the winning run.
“I was seriously just trying to get the ball in play,” Friel said. “It happened to work out for me.”
Friel nearly was stranded on deck when pinch-hitter Taylor Saul laced a ball to center that went in and out of the outstretched glove of Fruita’s Kendra Williams.
The Wildcats (7-1) had nothing to hang their heads about. After falling behind 5-1 in the fifth, the Wildcats scored six in the top of the sixth.
“It’s preseason for us. Our league starts Tuesday,” Wildcats third baseman Ashleigh Wissel said. “We’re leaving here proud because we made it to the championship game and we lost by one.”
While this was the diamond bracket, featuring teams that won their pools Friday, consolation pool winners included Central (Grand Junction) in Gold, Grandview in Silver and ThunderRidge in Bronze.
Fruita Monument 010 006 0 — 7 10 4
Highlands Ranch 000 050 3 — 8 13 3
Fruita Monument — Williams cf 5-1-2-0, Schminke 2b 3-1-1-2, Wissel 3b 4-1-1-0, Paulson p 3-0-1-1, Johnson ss 4-1-2-1, Mahnke 1b 4-0-0-0, DeCrow c 3-0-2-0, Padgett cr 0-1-0-0, Thomas lf 1-1-0-1, Englbrecht rf 2-1-0-0, O’Dell ph 1-0-1-0. Totals 30-7-10-5.
Highlands Ranch — Friel 2b 4-0-2-2, Lucas 3b 3-1-1-1, Gutierrez p 3-0-2-0, Dunn cr 0-2-0-0, Chiarmonte ss 4-1-1-2, Kilcullen cf 4-2-2-0, Calori 1b 1-0-0-0, Kuhloie rf 2-0-1-0, Allison c 4-0-1-0, Lilly dh 4-0-1-0, Frandsen lf 3-2-1-0, Saul lf 1-0-1-1, Bass rf-1b 0-0-0-0. Totals 33-8-13-8.
E— Wissel, Englbrecht, Schminke 2, Chiarmonte, Gutierrez, Kilcullen. DP — Fruita Monument 1. LOB — FM 8, HR 8. 2B — Wissel, DeCrow, Friel, Chiarmonte, Gutierrez, Lilly, Frandsen. SB — Lucas, Kuhloie. SAC — Thomas, Englbrecht. SF — Paulson.
Batteries — Paulson and DeCrow; Gutierrez and Allison. W — Gutierrez (7-2). L — Paulson (3-1). T — 2:04.
