Tiger Softball Team Clinches Berth In State Tourney

AURORA – It wasn’t supposed to end like this.

The Lakewood Tigers, seeded 30th out of 32 teams trying to make their way into next weekend’s state softball tournament, watched the high fives and back slaps and wondered what went wrong in their first game of the regional tournament at Aurora Sports Park.

“Our hitting wasn’t here today,” said Tiger coach Jen Mikkelsen. “If it was, I think it’s a closer game and maybe momentum swings our way.”

The Tigers, 8-11 when the morning started, waited 45 minutes past the scheduled 9 a.m. start for the morning sun to do its job and rid the field of the overnight frost. With that taken care of, they faced Douglas County’s Chaparral Wolverines and their buzz-saw pitcher, Danielle Collins.

Collins took the mound with a 14-2 record. The Wolverines as a team were three better at 17-2.

The Tigers never had a chance. Collins struck out 12 on her way to a no-hitter.

“She hit her spots pretty well and we helped her out on that high pitch a lot,” Mikkelsen said. “She’s a great pitcher.

“Our kids have the caliber to play up,” she said. “We’ve played the best in the state, but I’m not sure we were here yet this morning.”

The Tigers fell, 3-1. They packed their gear and moved just a few yards for game two of the double-elimination tournament.

Game two would be against the Rampart Rams of Colorado Springs. In terms of assignments, this one appeared marginally better than the first. The Rams brought a 12-8 record to the contest.

By now, the sun had rolled to almost directly overhead. The heat from its rays had begun to warm the concrete that surrounded the softball complex and if that weren’t enough to wake the Tigers, the tongue-lashing Mikkelsen gave them after the first loss surely was.

Playing as the visitors, the Tigers wasted no time in getting started. Sarah Patzner led off and popped to the shortstop. A fielding error left her on first. Chela Garcia’s sac bunt moved Patzner to second. Emily Hurlbert doubled, but not deep enough to score a run. Kylie Pierce stepped to the plate and ripped the first pitch down the third base line for a ground-rule double. Chalk up two RBIs as Patzner and Hurlbert scored.

The Tigers sent eight batters to the plate in the top half of the first inning, but left the bases loaded. Hurlbert took the mound to start the bottom half of the inning. She gave up two singles and then got out of the jam.

After an uneventful second inning, Lakewood started the third as it had the first, with a rip shot and an error. Melodeigh Christiansen stood on first base. Eva Hoffman laid down a sac bunt and Christiansen moved over to second. Another sac bunt by Jessica Gunn was supposed to move Christiansen over to third. But a throwing error allowed her to come all the way home. Back-to-back outs ended the rally. The Tigers led, 3-0.

The Rams got two runs in the bottom of the fourth to pull to within 3-2. The Tigers had a nice rally going in the sixth that could have given them at least one more run, but consecutive base-running errors killed those hopes.

In the sixth, Pierce faced the bottom third of the Rams lineup. She struck out the side. The Tigers got an insurance run in the top of the seventh, but the strength of the Rams lineup was coming to bat. The leadoff batter flew out. The next batter singled to right and the tying run was at the plate. Pitcher Hannah Jackett entered the box controlling her own fate. A fielder’s choice put her on first but left her as the only base runner and the Rams down to their last out. Katie Londo kept the rally going with a single to left.

The winning run was in the box.

Sam Talmich popped out to the catcher.

Lakewood was one game away from advancing to the state tournament.

That was the good news.

The bad news? Lakewood would face the Chaparral Wolverines and Collins.

No, it definitely was not supposed to end like this.

The heartbreak began in the second inning – this time for the third-seeded Wolverines. It came at the hand, make that bat, of Kylie Pierce. With Lakewood down 1-0, Pierce hit a shot to left center that cleared the fence. Two outs later, Jessica Gunn walked. Destini Griffey singled. So did Jessica Wright. Gunn scored. With two on, Patzner struck out to end the inning, but the Tigers led 2-1.

The Tigers’ next runs came in the fourth. Leadoff hitter Sarah Patzner got a single up the middle. Chela Garcia got a hit to left field. Emily Hurlbert was up. She tried to sacrifice bunt the runners to second and third, but an error on the shortstop left the bases load.

Heartbreaker Kylie Pierce advanced to the plate.

She walked. Patzner scored and Lakewood led, 3-1.

With Eva Hoffman at the plate, Garcia scored on a passed ball. The rally would end when Jessica Gunn struck out with the bases loaded.

Lakewood took its 4-1 lead into the bottom of the seventh.

Rachel Franklin hit a shot to short. The error left her on first. The next batter struck out. And so did the next. But Christiansen dropped the ball and when she threw to first, Franklin advanced to second. She went to third on a passed ball. When Lexie Minch singled, Franklin scored. Jackie Kuspa lined out to first and Caity Pelayo struck out.

The improbable run of the Lakewood Tigers was done for the weekend.

“It was pretty much night and day from the first time we played them to the second,” Mikkelsen said. “Our kids were relaxed and energized. Our kids feed off each other’s energy. If one person puts the ball in play, the other eight are going to put the ball in play. That’s true teamwork.

“For our kids to come back from a heartbreaking deflating loss, and play the same team again and have to beat them, that takes all heart,” Mikkelsen said. “And our kids are all heart, all energy. They swung the momentum our way.”

Indeed they did. But it really wasn’t supposed to end this way.