HIGHLANDS RANCH — Typically, season-ending nonleague games are nothing more than a tune-up for the postseason.
The stakes were higher for Tuesday’s Valor Christian-Cheyenne Mountain contest, considering the Class 4A playoff seeds are anything but neatly aligned after a crazy final week.
Valor Christian’s stock has been skyrocketing in the past week after it nabbed the Jeffco title, and the Eagles kept it going with a convincing, 5-1 home win against the No. 6 Indians, offering one final push before the seeds are determined today.
“We told the kids that we wanted to leave no doubt,” Eagles coach Keith Wahl said. “We trust the seeding committee and they’ll do a good job, but we wanted to win today so they could say, ‘Hey, they beat another good team.’ “
On senior day at Valor, a freshman stole the show at the plate. Ninth-hole hitter Justin Falls went 2-for-3 with three RBIs, including a bases-loaded blast off the center-field wall that turned into a long, two-run single when the runners had to hold to see if the ball would be caught.
“I’m in the nine hole to clean up any runners who might be left on base,” Falls said. “There were people there, so I just did my job.”
Valor (14-5) scored all its runs in the second and third innings, and pitchers Collin Jones (five scoreless innings) and Joey Masters made it stand up. Of note, former big-leaguer Mike Timlin is the Eagles’ pitching coach this season.
Cheyenne Mountain coach Mark Swope, who expects a No. 10 or 11 seed for his 13-6 team that won the Mountain Division of the Colorado Springs Metro League, came away impressed with Valor.
“They do everything right,” Swope said. “They put pressure on the defense and they have guys who can run. They don’t have a lot of power, but they have guys who get on base.”
Cheyenne Mountain 000 000 1 — 1 5 2
Valor Christian 023 000 x — 5 7 1
Cheyenne Mountain (ab-r-h-rbi) — Lacayo c 4-0-1-0, Bowen rf-cf 3-0-0-0, Darby cf-p 3-0-1-0, Helton p-ss 2-0-0-0, Levar 3b 2-0-0-0, Stimple 1b 3-1-0-0, Lucero 2b 3-0-1-0, Stahn lf-rf 3-0-2-1, Butler dh-lf 2-0-0-0, Mandino ph 0-0-0-0, Johnson ss 0-0-0-0. Totals 25-1-5-1.
Valor Christian — Ward cf 3-0-0-1, Froistad ph 1-0-0-0, Roebuck ss 3-0-1-1, Anderson c 3-0-1-0, Troka 3b 3-0-0-0, Butler 1b 3-0-1-0, Steese 2b 2-1-1-0, Houston lf 2-2-1-0, Lund dh 3-2-0-0, Falls rf 3-0-2-3. Totals 26-5-7-5.
E — Darby, Lacayo. DP — Valor Christian. LOB — Cheyenne Mountain 6, Valor Christian 6. 2B — Stahn 2. SB — Anderson.
Batteries — Helton, Darby (4) and Lacayo; Jones, Masters (6) and Anderson. W — Jones (6-1). L — Helton (6-2). T — 1:43.
