AURORA | It ended with considerable tension and both coaches restricted to their respective benches, but the season series between the Smoky Hill and Cherokee Trail baseball teams came to a close Thursday.
Barring a meeting in the postseason, the two Centennial League rivals won’t see each other again after playing two times in a three-day span, capped by the Buffaloes’ 11-7 victory on the Cougars’ home field in a lengthy game that finished with both teams on edge.
Smoky Hill rallied for eight runs in its final two at-bats to get out of a six-run hole to top Cherokee Trail on Tuesday and scored at least one run in all seven innings in the rematch to finish off the two-game sweep. The Buffaloes improved to 4-2 overall and 2-0 in league play, while the Cougars came out of the game 2-5 overall and 0-2 in the league.
Junior Lian Grimble earned the save in both games against Cherokee Trail for Smoky Hill, following a one-inning spotless performance in the last game with a three-inning stint that included eight strikeouts and just one run allowed on a wild pitch.
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Colorado Sports Editor. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. FB: Sentinel Prep Sports
SMOKY HILL 11, CHEROKEE TRAIL 7
Score by innings:
Smoky Hill 111 223 1 — 11
Cherokee Trail 020 401 0 — 7
SMOKY HILL (ab-r-h-rbi)
Dylan McKee 3-1-3-4, Cam Kennedy 2-2-1-0, Colin Richey 3-1-2-2, Noah Ackerman 4-0-2-0, Niall Ackeman 5-1-1-0, Diego Velasquez 5-1-1-0, Preston Cooper 4-0-0-0, Guillermo Kish 4-1-1-1, Ayden Grimble 0-0-0-1, Liam Grimble 1-0-0-0, Jayson Trujillo 0-3-0-0, Josh Heckard 0-1-0-0. Totals 30-11-11-8. Smoky Hill pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Ayden Grimble (W, 4-5-6-5-6-6), Liam Grimble (Save, 3-0-1-0-4-8)
CHEROKEE TRAIL (ab-r-h-rbi)
Connor Hardman 4-2-2-0, Ryan Muniz 2-1-1-2, Parker Sandoval 1-1-0-0, Cade Simpson 3-0-0-0, Kellen Cox 3-0-1-0, Ethan Sloan 4-0-1-1, Mason Holland 2-2-1-0, Andrew Godfrey 3-1-0-0, Caleb Woltz 2-0-0-0, Parker Sandoval 1-1-0-0, Colton Freels 1-0-0-0. Totals 25-7-6-3. Cherokee Trail pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Caleb Woltz (L, 5-8-7-6-2-11), Ethan Mackintosh (1-1-3-3-3-1), Sam Hayen (1-2-1-1-1-1)
2B — Smoky Hill (4): Cam Kennedy, Dylan McKee, Colin Richey, Diego Velasquez; Cherokee Trail: Ethan Sloan. 3B — Smoky Hill: Nial Ackerman