BROOMFIELD | Cherokee Trail and Broomfield will need two days to decide who will get a trip to the Aurora Sports Park for Saturday’s Class 5A semifinals after their quarterfinal contest was suspended by darkness Thursday.
The 10th-seeded Cougars lost a late two-run lead to the second-seeded Eagles that forced extra innings and after the teams played a scoreless eighth inning, the game was halted with the score tied 5-5 and Cherokee Trail coming up to hit in the ninth.
The game is scheduled to resume at 3:30 p.m. Friday with the winner moving into a semifinal matchup against No. 3 Chatfield, a 2-1 winner over No. 6 Lakewood. No. 4 Fossil Ridge (which stunned Cherokee Trail’s fellow Centennial League team, Smoky Hill, 2-1 in extra innings) and No. 8 Grand Junction Central (which upset No. 1 Rock Canyon 1-0) meet in the other semifinal.
Coach Caley Mitchell’s Cherokee Trail team got off to a good start against Broomfield with a two-run rally in the first inning as junior pitcher Jenna Medhus delivered a single to score juniors Ryleigh Cruz and Brooke Scott, who had reached base by a single and hit by pitch, respectively.
Medhus subsequently stole second base, but had her non-pitching hand stepped on and banged her head on the knee of Eagles’ shortstop Hadlee Reichert as she fielded an errant throw down.
Broomfield countered immediately with two runs in the bottom of the first inning and went ahead with one in the third, but the Cougars tallied three runs in the fifth and six innings for a 5-3 edge.
The Eagles inched closer with a run in the sixth against Medhus, who shut out Horizon in the first round, and got even in the bottom of the seventh when Reichert stole second base and scored the tying run on a ground rule double.
Medhus, junior Caitlin Cushenbery and freshman Cayman Lightner each had two hits in the first eight innings for Cherokee Trail and Cruz had collected an RBI.
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Colorado Sports Editor. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or [email protected] Twitter: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
CLASS 5A STATE SOFTBALL QUARTERFINAL
CHEROKEE TRAIL 5, BROOMFIELD 5 (SUSP., 9 INN.)
Score by innings (r-h-e):
Cherokee Trail 200 021 00 — 5 11 1
Broomfield 201 001 10 — 5 7 0
