Lobos win “ugly,” but 3-0 is beautiful
ROCKY MTN. 5, MTN. VISTA 4
Is this starting to sound familiar?
Rocky Mountain is the only remaining undefeated team among the four survivors in the double-elimination Class 5A state baseball tournament.
The Lobos, seeking the Fort Collins school’s sixth state title in 11 seasons, finished off a 5-4 victory over Mountain Vista of Highlands Ranch on Tuesday morning at Metro State in the completion of a game suspended after six innings Monday at All-City Field because of a sudden, drenching rainstorm.
With Rocky Mountain leading 4-3 at the point of resumption, each team scored once in an ugly seventh inning, with Rocky Mountain catcher Jadon Uhrich, who had singled, crossing the plate — on a head-first slide on the allartificial turf field — with the game-ending, winning run on a two-out Mountain Vista throwing error.
In the top of the inning, Mountain Vista got the tying run without the benefit of a hit, on a hit-by-pitch, a walk and an infield out. And the second out came on a wild pitch, when Uhrich retrieved the bounce from the backstop and made the toss to pitcher Kalen Hammer, who tagged out Mountain Vista’s Zach Pachke to keep it at 4-4.
“That was as weird as it gets,” said Rocky Mountain coach Scott Bullock. “It couldn’t have been any uglier. But sometimes you win ugly baseball. We like to say, ‘Yea, bad baseball,’ when you win. Sometimes it works. I don’t think either team deserved to lose that game. I’m not sure either team deserved to win it, either, but we’ll take it. I’m proud of our guys. They have been extremely resilient through these first three games.”
Rocky Mountain has three one-run wins in the tournament after beating Rock Canyon 3-2, Cherry Creek 7-6 and the Golden Eagles.
After the Monday night weather fiasco, the Lobos returned to Fort Collins, then met at the school at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday for the trip to Denver.
“We left around 7,” Bullock said. “We wanted to make sure we beat the traffic. It was a quick turnaround, for sure.”
Uhrich, the Lobos’ senior catcher, noted, “It was weird sleeping last night, because you’re three outs away from the championship game.” He added: “The winning run was fun. The head-first slide was pretty fun too. I decided to enjoy that moment. That was a crazy last inning. It was nerve-wracking for sure.”
When the tournament resumes Friday at All-City Field, Broomfield will face Rocky Mountain at 10 a.m. and Mountain Vista will meet Cherry Creek at 12:30 p.m.
“Like I just told our guys, it will not be easy,” Bullock said. “It never is. But you play this first weekend to try to come out 3-0. That’s our goal, and we put ourselves in good position. Now we have to play good baseball and go finish it, but we feel good about the spot we’re in. It’s where everyone wants to be.”
The Lobos will be attempting to add to a championship collection that includes four consecutive titles from 2007-10, when Marco Gonzales was Rocky Mountain’s star, and in 2014.