LAKEWOOD — Raiders of the Lost Art.
Cade Filleman stood on the mound, 60-foot-6 inches away from delirium. All the junior right-hander had to do was retire Arvada West’s Levi Lueck with the tying runs in scoring position and nobody in the restless crowd sitting at All-Star Park.
You know, the easy stuff.
“He is just relaxed enough that nothing bothers him,” Regis Jesuit coach Matt Darr said. “No moment is too big.”
Filleman came set at his waist, raised his leg and fired a fastball. Lueck was sitting on a heater, and did not miss, lining a shot to right field. If the ball hooks or drops, Arvada West might have have celebrated a state title three decades in the making.
Instead it stayed up. And red caps no longer stayed on. They flung in the air. The dugout emptied. The Regis Jesuit Raiders captured the 5A state championship, toppling Arvada West 5-3 for their first crown in seven years.
No more runner-up to Cherry Creek. No more coming up short. This victory was as undeniable as the bond between the seniors on this team who did everything but draw up a pact to avoid a third-straight disappointment on the season’s final day.
“Oh my gosh, we did it. We are extremely close. We have been playing together for what feels like forever. No one was selfish,” said Carter Rathbun, a University of San Francisco commit. “It really sucks losing like we did before. This feels so much better.”
It might have sounded simple when looking at the final score. It was not.
Having the pressure of falling in this spot, especially for three-year starters, weighed heavy. Losing the morning game to Arvada West junior ace Cooper Vais, whose snap dragon slider produced 10 strikeouts in a 3-2 muzzling, could have siphoned confidence.
“Actually, our belief was strong. It felt like this was the game we were going to win,” said Vanderbilt-bound right-hander and slugger Hudson Alpert, who threw a gem in the opener. “We felt like we had more pitching depth and that we were in a good position no matter what. Whoever was on the mound, we were going to ambush to them.”
The assignment fell on Arvada West crafty lefty Cole Eisenreich.
He recorded two quick outs in the first, and then collided with trouble, unable to escape the inning. His command betrayed him, and when he needed his best pitch, Rathbun was ready for it. After a pair of curveballs missed up in the zone, Rathbun laced a fastball that practically dented the right field wall. The bases-clearing double plated three runs and allowed Regis Jesuit to exhale with a five-run lead.
It barely held, a testament to Arvada West freshman Jake Richards and senior Beau Friesen performing damage control, holding Regis Jesuit to three hits over the final 16 outs.
For the Raiders to win, it took third baseman Brady Wright turning his glove into an obituary for hard groundballs and choppers.
It took Mikey Kroll, who will be one of the state’s best returning pitchers next season, to answer the offensive uprising with four scoreless innings with four strikeouts. He would say later that failure was not an option, that he could not let down his brothers. “We are all super close.”
It took patience, waiting out a 1 hour, 20-minute lightning delay that sapped their momentum as the players gathered their thoughts in the dugout.
It took resolve as the fifth-inning brought back bad memories. A high popup was misplayed in shallow right field. A blooper went uncaught. Two bad throws — one on a missed cut, another on a wild pickoff — caffeinated the Arvada West offense. A comfortable cushion became a two-run advantage — Lueck and Vais delivered big hits — enough to create squirms given how the previous two state title Saturdays played out.
“The difference this time? This group was just so invested in making this happen. It started with the culture created by Hudson and Chase (Massey),” Darr said. “When the other kids saw how hard they worked and what it meant to them, how could they not fall in line?”
In the end, the Raiders knew there would be accompanying drama.
Filleman is a good pitcher, but after a shaky fifth inning, he had his work cut out for him. Darr never wavered. Filleman is the kind of kid you want to get off the bus first. He looks like a linebacker — 6 foot-3, 200 pounds — because he is one. He plays for his father Danny at Regis.
Cade has been described as quietly intense. Someone you always want on your team because he hates to lose.
So when the seventh inning rolled around, his nerves were not frayed. Dad’s were. He sat in front of the press box with his heart beating through his chest, a defibrillator a distinct possibility with every pitch.
“Oh man,” he said. “I was anxious.”
No need.
Filleman never flinched. He gave up hits, but commanded the strike zone. If the Wildcats were going to beat him, they were going to have to string together several good at-bats.
In the end, Filleman made sure this game went the way it was supposed to go. Arvada West was a worthy competitor — good luck to any team facing Vais next season — but this was Regis’ time, this was Regis’ team to soothe past heartbreak.
“Yeah, 100 percent it felt better because of what it took to get here. The losses made me want it so much for this group,” said Alpert, who could have skipped the season to slowly recover from elbow surgery, but never considered it. “I was at the point where I was going to do anything to get a state championship. That was my my only priority.”
Alpert smiled as he relived the achievement. He let out a deep breath. That was the appropriate response to the Raiders’ long-awaited masterpiece.
