AURORA | Locked in an intense tie game for six innings, the top of the seventh inning snowballed in a bad way for the Cherokee Trail softball team Saturday afternoon.
The second-seeded Cougars — seeking a second straight trip to the Class 5A state championship game — gave up book-end four-run rallies to sixth-seeded Legend in a stunning 8-4 loss that ended their season.
Cherokee Trail tied the game in the bottom of the fifth inning on a sacrifice fly by junior Sydney Cobb that brought in junior Tayah Burton and went to the final inning still deadlocked before the Titans took control in the top of the seventh.
Cobb worked five straight scoreless innings after Legend tallied four times in its opening at-bat and helped the Cougars get back into the contest as she hit a home run and drove in all four runs for coach Caley Mitchell’s team.
The Titans’ decisive rally started when Cobb hit Caylee Humphrey with a pitch and she came around to score the go-ahead run when a bunt by Maddie Kessel was followed by two throwing errors. Vienna Wold’s bloop single landed just far down the left field line to score another run and Ashlyn Carpenter’s flare that made it just over the infield brought in two more.
Cherokee Trail got just one runner on in the final inning as it attempted to rally and finished the season 22-5. The Cougars advanced to the semifinals for the third time in the past six seasons, but remain in search of their first state title since 2016.
Legend went on to lose to top-seeded Broomfield 17-7 in 5 innings in the 5A state championship game.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
2025 Class 5A state softball tournament (at Aurora Sports Park)
Semifinal: (6) Legend 8, (2) Cherokee Trail 4
Score by innings (r-h-e):
Legend 400 000 4 — 8 7 1
Cher. Trail 300 010 0 — 4 5 2
LP — Cherokee Trail: Sydney Cobb (7 IP, 7 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 7 BB, 10 K). Cherokee Trail hitting: Sydney Cobb 2-3, HR, 4 RBI, run, SB; Izzy Becker 1-2, run; Abby Anderson 1-2, SB; Kayla Kee 1-2; Tayah Burton 2 runs, 2 SBs; Emma Rice SB
