AURORA | The Cherokee Trail softball team’s reign continues atop the Centennial League, but not without getting past a difficult test Thursday afternoon.
The Cougars played host to a determined Eaglecrest team — one they had defeated by 10 runs earlier in the season — in the Centennial League Challenge final and had the breaks go their way in a 1-0 victory that secured a third straight league title.
Junior Sydney Cobb struck out 15 in a complete game effort and outdueled Raptors’ freshman Haisley Elliott as coach Caley Mitchell’s team prevailed in a matchup of teams that sat Nos. 3 and 4 in the Colorado High School Activities Association’s Class 5A Seeding Index with the postseason ahead.
“Winning a championship in anything is hard, whether it be league, state or whatever, a lot of things have to fall into place,” Mitchell said. “I knew it wasn’t going to be easy because we had already beaten them before and we knew they wouldn’t go down easily. It was a good game and I’m glad we pulled out, but we knew it was going to be tough.”
Freshman Peyton Contes legged out a triple in the bottom of the fifth and pinch runner Abby Anderson came home to score on a mishandled grounder off the bat of sophomore Taylen Shaver as Cherokee Trail improved to 17-4 going into a contest against ThunderRidge on Friday, the final day of the regular season.
Coach Yvette Hendrian’s Eaglecrest team dropped to wrapped up its regular season 18-5 despite outhitting Cherokee Trail 5-3. The Raptors stranded runners in scoring position in each of the last four innings, however, including leaving the tying run at third base in the top of the seventh inning.
Eaglecrest freshman Haisley Elliott allowed just three hits, but was the hard-luck loser.
The only run to cross the plate came in the fifth inning when Contes pinch hit and lofted an Elliott offering down the right field line, which eluded the glove of a diving Raptors’ outfielder. Contes arrived safely at third base on a close play and Anderson (who came on to pinch run) came home on an error on Shaver’s grounder to second base.
Both Aurora area teams will play host to 5A regional tournaments next week at the Aurora Sports Park. The regular season concludes Friday and CHSAA will reveal the regional pairings over the weekend.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
Cherokee Trail, 1 Eaglecrest 0
Score by innings:
Eaglecrest 000 000 0 — 0 5 2
Cher. Trail 000 010 x — 1 3 1
WP — Cherokee Trail: Sydney Cobb (7 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 15 K). LP — Eaglecrest: Haisley Elliott (6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 4 K). Eaglecrest hitting: Ryleigh Stufft 2-3; Haisley Elliott 1-3, 2B; Sybella Trevino 1-2, 2B; Giana Vialpando Williams 1-3. Cherokee Trail hitting: Peyton Contes 1-2, 3B; Lily Buttshaw 1-3; Izzy Becker 1-3, SB; Abby Anderson run
