In two vastly different ways, the Grandview and Regis Jesuit baseball teams got to the same coveted place: the Class 5A Championship Series.
The eight-team double elimination tournament that will decide the state championship will include the Wolves and Raiders, who made it through regional tournaments on their home fields May 16-17 to keep their seasons alive.
It will be the fourth straight season in the Championship Series for Regis Jesuit — last season’s runner-up — and second in a row for Grandview.
“Being there four years in a row is something to be proud of as a program,” said Regis Jesuit coach Matt Darr, the only one of the final eight to be able to make that claim.
“It’s so hard to get there,” he added. “One break here or there or a bad draw and that’s it.
“Obviously now we can take a deep breath and it’s way more enjoyable and more fun now.”
The sixth-seeded Raiders were the only team to hold regional play on May 16 and they prevailed in Region 6 to be the first into the Championship Series. That did not come without drama, however, as they not only had to get through No. 27 Brighton, but also Continental League rival and 11th-seeded Mountain Vista.
Regis Jesuit fell behind the Bulldogs by two runs in the third inning, but scored five times in its next two at-bats to take control. The Raiders then found themselves with a rematch with Mountain Vista, which dealt them a 12-1 defeat in Continental League play April 14, with the Golden Eagles throwing the same pitcher in Chase Ruden.
But this time, Darr was able to deploy junior ace Hudson Alpert, who was on point from start to finish as he allowed just two hits and a single run.
“He was obviously special,” Darr said of Alpert, who improved to 5-3 with a 1.27 ERA. “This is my 11th year with the program and having a lot of great pitchers, but that performance might have been the best we’ve had. They got a couple of runners on, but he buckled down every time.”
Offensively, the hero was junior Chase Massey, who hadn’t been swinging a hot bat, but came through with a home run to give Regis Jesuit the lead and then doubled in junior Jacob Olson in the bottom of the seventh for a 2-1 walk-off win.
“Chase would be the first to say he’s had a disappointing year at the plate, but sometimes you need those kids to come through against really good arms,” Darr said.
Regis Jesuit (18-7) retains the No. 6 seed and will take on No. 3 Arvada West (22-2-1) at noon May 23 at All-City Stadium in the opening game of the Championship Series.
Top-seeded Grandview (21-4), meanwhile, will begin play in the Championship Series at 9:30 a.m. May 23 at All-Star Park in Lakewood against No. 8 Castle View (19-6).
Coach Scott Henry’s Wolves — who lost in the semifinals of last season’s Championship Series — had their white-knuckle postseason experience in the opening game of Region 1 play May 17 as opposed to in the championship game.
Going up against No. 32 Poudre, the Wolves were locked in a 1-1 game in the fourth inning (after senior Josiah Giron worked out of a bases loaded situation in relief of solid senior starter Justin Dean) before taking the lead. Senior Kyler Vaughn walked, moved to second on a passed ball and scored on an errant throw to first on a grounder by sophomore Kayden Bohmeyer.
Giron made it hold up, as he stranded the tying run at second base in the seventh for a 2-1 win, which included an early home run from junior Ethan Wachsmann.
“We’ve been a high seed in the past, but I’ve never coached a No. 1 seed,” Henry said. “I felt a little bit more pressure because I didn’t want us to the No. 1 that goes out early. We had no idea what we were going to see from Poudre, good or bad, and they were way tougher than we expected.”
To Henry’s relief, things were much different in the regional championship game, as Grandview jumped all over No. 16 Pueblo West after a lightning strike in the area caused a 30-minute delay.
Wachsmann retired the Cyclones in order in the top of the first inning and the Wolves would counter with nine runs in the bottom of the frame on their way to a 15-2 victory. Dean and Vaughn each had two-run singles, Bohmeyer and seniors Chase Chapman and Jax Pfister doubled in runs and Wachsmann had an RBI grounder in the huge opening inning for Grandview, which also had three-run rallies in the third and fourth innings.
“We needed a performance like that offensively,” Henry said. “We had runners on in the first game and did get that timely hit. It was nice to see our guys stay aggressive the whole way.”
Speaking of offense, Grandview’s opening game comes against a Castle View team that piled up 28 runs in Region 7 wins over Eaglecrest and Pine Creek and put up nine in a 9-7 win over the Wolves back on April 2.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
