AURORA | In the summer, Courtney Browne and Alexa Romero are softball teammates on the Colorado Magic.
The two had something else in common Tuesday, as they threw no-hitters for their respective high school teams in Centennial League play.
Browne allowed no hits in four near-perfect frames in Grandview’s 18-0 victory against Overland at Utah Park, while Romero was perfect for the three innings it took for Eaglecrest to rout Arapahoe 20-0 at Littleton’s DeKoevend Park.
The Wolves lost three-year starting pitcher Marina Quimby to graduation, but coach Dave Thies has found a new hurler in Browne, who pitched seven innings of relief in a season-opening victory over Mullen. Against Overland, the right-hander set down 12 hitters on 27 pitches, though two Trailblazers reached on errors and were erased by double plays.
“We knew Courtney had the potential watching her throughout the summer and I knew coming into high school she would work really hard to try to get the starting job,” Thies said. “She proved it against Mullen and it looks like we’ve found our pitcher.”
Browne also had two hits and drove in two runs in Grandview’s offensive onslaught, which included 3-RBI performances by both Emily Supercynski and Kat Maynard. Kelsey Biaggi, Shy Calicchia and Jaden Thompson, back from injury, each plated two runs for the Wolves (2-0 overall and 2-0 in the Centennial League).
Romero, a left-hander, had to get just nine outs to beat Arapahoe thanks to Eaglecrest’s offensive outburst, which included an 11-run second inning.
It took her 36 pitches, but she struck out three, walked none and didn’t allow anything close to a base hit for coach Yvette Hendrian’s team, which improved to 3-1 overall and 1-1 in the Centennial League.
“Alexa was just spinning the ball really well and let the defense behind her field a couple of grounders,” Hendrian said. “She didn’t strike out many, but the rest were popups and grounders, nothing sharp. There weren’t any ESPN plays by any means, she just did her job.”
Romero had a perfect game into the fourth inning in the Raptors’ second game of the season against ThunderRidge before allowing four hits and three runs. She yielded nothing to the Warriors, who hastened the conclusion of their loss with five errors.
Taylor Kigerl-Hill, Lauren Buckley, Tayler Mashburn and Mikayla Faulkner all drove in three runs each for Eaglecrest, with Kigerl-Hill collecting four of the Raptors’ 16 hits.
• Cherokee Trail didn’t get a perfect game, but the Cougars had all the offense they needed in a 13-2 victory in five innings over visiting Smoky Hill.
Morgan Worthington continued to set the tone for Cherokee Trail with three hits and three runs scored, while Lyndsey Knabenshue added four RBI.
Christian Bobian got the pitching victory by allowing one run on three hits in three innings.
Smoky Hill got two hits each from Nikki Sparacio and Karen Williams.
Reach Sports Editor Courtney Oakes at sports@aurorasentinel.com or 303-750-7555
GRANDVIEW 18, OVERLAND 0 (4 INN.)
Score by innings:
Grandview 231 12 — 18
Overland 000 0 — 0
WP — Grandview: Courtney Browne
EAGLECREST 20, ARAPAHOE 0 (3 INN.)
Score by innings (r-h-e):
Eaglecrest 4(11)5 —20 16 0
Arapahoe 000 — 0 0 5
WP — Eaglecrest: Alexa Romero
CHEROKEE TRAIL 13, SMOKY HILL 2 (5 INN.)
Score by innings (r-h-e):
Smoky Hill 200 00 — 2 5 4
Cherokee Trail 401 35 — 13 11 1
WP — Cherokee Trail: Christian Bobian; LP — Smoky Hill: Nikki Sparacio
So very proud of my not only a great athelet but beautiful neice.