Lakewood 4, Grand Junction Central 12

Grand Junction #4 Jessica Romine slides safe into third base as Lakewood #19 Sarah Patzner misses the throw during the Colorado State Softball Championships in Aurora ,Colorado on October 23,2009. Grand Junction defeated Lakewood 12-4. (George Kochaniec, Jr.)

AURORA – Cinderella made it to the ball, but didn’t wind up with the prince.

Lakewood High School’s Tiger softball team, 8-11 in the regular season and seeded 30th among 32 teams in last week’s 5A Regional softball tournament, won two of three games, advancing to Friday’s State 5A tournament and making Tiger coach Jen Mikkelsen proud.

“Our kids are all heart, all energy,” Mikkelsen said after last week’s somewhat surprising results.

But the Tiger’s season ended briskly Friday, much like the chilling afternoon breeze at Aurora Sports Complex, brought to an end by a hard-hitting team from Grand Junction Central that scored 12 runs while holding the Tigers to four.

And they made their coach proud again.

“The game itself doesn’t matter,” Mikkelsen said after the loss. “I love these kids. These kids left it all out here. For us to be in the State tournament, be one of 16 teams left, is a huge accomplishment. I couldn’t be prouder of my squad.”

After a three-up-three down top of the first, Lakewood took the field for what turned out to be an offensive show by GJ Central’s Warriors, who went 20-1 for the season and entered the state tournament as the Number 2 seed.

Central’s Jessica Romine lead off the bottom of the 1st with an infield single, then stole second. Outfielder Whitney Stone walked, shortstop Taylor Else reached first on a fielder’s choice, but the throw to second was late and Stone moved up a base and Romine scored. Stone and Else crossed home plate on a double to right by Warrior’s pitcher Mikayla Duffy.

Duffy moved to third on a fielder’s choice infield out by Brittany Hoppe. LHS pitcher Kylie Pierce struck out Erin Martinez, walked outfielder Katie Fox and struck out Alexis Walters to end the inning.

But Lakewood came right back to open the second inning.

Pictures from the state softball tournament. Click to view. Photos by George Kochaniec, Jr.

Pierce started things off with a single, and Bianca Wells was sent to run the bases for her. Melodeigh Christiansen followed with a double to right, Eva Hoffman walked and the bases were loaded with no outs.

After Jessica Gunn struck out and Destini Griffey dropped on an infield pop-up, outfielder Jessica Wright beat out a single, scoring Wells from third. Christiansen and Hoffman scored on a single by Chela Garcia. But Garcia was picked off trying to steal second and the Tiger defense took the field tied 4-4.

The Warriors came back with four more in their half of the second, two more in the third and two more in the sixth. At game’s end – and season’s end for the Tigers – the score was 12-4.

And the Tiger’s proud coach is looking forward to next season.

‘We graduate seven, but we’ve got seven left. The starting pitcher is a junior, so we have our core coming back and we’re going to give it another run next year,” Mikkelsen said. “But to be one of 16, that’s a huge accomplishment for these kids. They deserve it and they worked hard for it.”