New coaches to watch
Will this Colorado spring be snow-laden, or will the weather cooperate while allowing local high school baseball teams to complete their seasons with relatively little interruption?
That remains to be seen. Chances are, players will be shoveling off their fields at some point. But what is for certain are these three story lines fans need to be following:
5A’s three elite leagues
Once again, the Continental League, Centennial League and Front Range League are each loaded with a handful of championshipcaliber teams, and going through the regular season in each of those leagues makes programs ready for the pressurized ballgames of May.
In particular, the Continental sextet of No. 1 Mountain Vista, No. 3 Legend, No. 4 Heritage, No. 7 Rock Canyon, No. 9 Regis Jesuit and No. 10 Highlands Ranch all have high expectations, while No. 2 Cherry Creek headlines the Centennial and defending champion No. 5 Rocky Mountain is the favorite out of the Front Range.
4A runs through Valor
The two-time defending champion Eagles boast one of the top pitchers in the state in senior righty Luke Ziegler, who posted a 6-1 mark with a 1.76 ERA en route to last season’s title.
But the Pepperdine commit- ment is simply the icing on the cake for loaded Valor Christian, as senior catcher Noah Kuzma (Colorado School of Mines), senior centerfielder Calvin Schonebaum (Concordia Calif.) and senior leftfielder Brady Buehler highlight other key returns. The program’s mantra this year is “chop wood, carry water,” to encourage the Eagles to respect the process of achieving a three-peat.
The offseason brought about a bunch of notable hires around the area, and it will be interesting to see what coaches can make an immediate impact. Brad Madden came to Ralston Valley from Green Mountain, and he’s tasked with stabilizing a program on its fifth coach in five seasons.
Meanwhile, Discovery Canyon netted former Arizona State assistant and The Classical Academy head coach Justin Ross, Heritage hired Tyler Munro away from an 11-year tenure at Rock Canyon and Standley Lake landed former Niwot coaching legend Bob Bote from Littleton.