AURORA | The seniors on the Cherokee Trail softball team know nothing but Centennial League championships.
The Cougars completed a four-peat of league titles with Wednesday’s 11-3 home victory over Eaglecrest, which saw those seniors play significant roles.
Emma Rice and Sydney Cobb combined to do the honors on the mound, while Delaney Falzon drove in two runs and Tayah Burton scored twice to propel Cherokee Trail to a win that also was the 275th in the career of head coach Caley Mitchell.
Junior Leera Davis added three RBI for the Cougars, the No. 1 team in the Colorado High School Activities Association Class 5A rankings, who improved to 20-2 overall with their 17th consecutive victory.
Coach Yvette Hendrian’s Raptors had a seven-game winning streak snapped and fell to 16-6 on the season.
Cherokee Trail finished 7-0 in the Centennial League regular season to grab the top seed in the league tournament and wins over Cherry Creek and Grandview earned it the chance to host Eaglecrest, which it defeated 3-1 Sept. 15.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
Championship: Cherokee Trail 11, Eaglecrest 3
Score by innings (r-h-e):
Eaglecrest 000 201 0 — 3 7 3
Cher. Trail 400 106 x — 11 10 3
EAGLECREST (ab-r-h-e)
Haisley Elliott p-ss 3-0-0-0, Sydney Smith rf 4-0-1-0, Tiani Lobitos 3b 3-1-0-0, Lelia Kelliher 2b 3-2-2-1, Ryleigh Stufft ss 3-0-2-1, Giana Vialpando Williams cf 3-0-1-1, Abby Files 1b 2-0-0-0, Alyssa Valejos dh-p 3-0-1-0, Lexi Barger c 3-0-0-0. Totals 27-3-7-3. Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Haisley Elliott (L, 5 1/3-8-8-4-6-3), Alyssa Vallejos (2/3-2-3-3-2-1)
CHEROKEE TRAIL (ab-r-h-rbi)
Tayah Burton cf 3-2-1-0, Taylen Shaver ss 3-2-2-0, Delaney Falzon c 3-0-1-2, Sydney Cobb lf-p 3-1-0-0, Charlotte Aldridge 3b 2-1-0-0, Emma Rice p 3-1-2-3, Rylee Holsten 1b 4-0-1-0, Sophia Jans dh 1-0-1-1, Corrine Becker pr-dh 2-3-2-0, Leera Davis 2b 3-0-1-3, Maddie Hunt pr 0-1-0-0. Totals 27-11-11-9. Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Emma Rice (W, 3 2/3-4-2-2-1-2), Sydney Cobb (3 1/3-3-1-1-1-3).
2B — Cherokee Trail: Leera Davis, Emma Rice, Taylen Shaver. 3B — Eaglecrest: Lelia Kelliher.
