All the pieces were in place. The Falcons won 15 games, lost
four took fourth in the Continental League and were given the right
to host one of eight district tournaments. But knowing the
intricacies of the field isn’t much help when you leave nine
runners on the bags and commit five errors.
Highlands Ranch put together a very un-
Falconlike performance in the first of what could have been two
games and saw their season come to an end when the 27th- seeded
Chargers rallied from a 4-0 hole to take a 15-9 win over the
sixth-seeded Falcons Saturday morning.
In the first inning it looked like everything would go right for
the Falcons as pitcher Jason Banks retired the Chatfield side in
order. The offense responded with four runs on four hits including
a two-run home run by Alex Krohn, but the end of the inning was a
sign of things to come.
Kyle McFadden hit a hard shot up the middle. The ball looked to
be caught by a Chatfield player, but it was dropped. The call was
made, but not loudly and the Falcons were left in a state of
confusion that led to a double play.
Chatfield failed to
generate anything in
the second and the Falcons loaded the
bases with three of
their first five batters. However, all the work went for nothing
when Chatfield stranded the runners with the third out of the
inning.
“Leaving runners on is something we don’t do, that is just not
Highlands Ranch baseball,” Highlands Ranch second baseman Brian
Bonn said.
The defensive stand seemed to spark Chatfield which scored its
first run with a double from Tyler Polumbo, and then took advantage
of the first Highlands Ranch error to get a pair of runners on base
for Zach Taylor to bring in with a home run to left center field.
That shot gave the Chargers a 5-4 lead.
Kyle Higgins tied the game with a double and Krohn came up big
again with a single to score to two runs, but a change on the mound
proved to be the right move for the Chargers.
Kellen Knudson came in to replace Matt Collins in the bottom of
the third and not only stopped the Highlands Ranch rally, but kept
them off the scoreboard for the next two innings.
“He brings the heat and he has a good off-speed pitch,” Bonn
said of Knud-son. “We were already struggling mentally because of
the errors we made and then they bring in a new pitcher and it took
us a while to figure him out.”
The Chargers took control of the game with six runs on five hits
including a two-run home run by Collins.
Chatfield added two more runs in the fifth and sixth inning for
a 14-7 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth.
Highlands Ranch began a rally in the sixth when Bonn got the
first hit of the day off Knudson and came home on a RBI single from
Marcus Quade. However, the Falcons were unable to take advantage
and left the bases loaded.
Chatfield added a pair of runs in the seventh and Falcons could
only generate one more run.
“In the first inning we were hitting the ball and scored four
runs but I thought we could have had more,” Highlands Ranch head
coach Alan DiGiosio said. “Then in the third we leave the bases
loaded and I kept hoping it would not catch up to us, but it
did.”
Because of the format change to Class 5A baseball the Falcons’
season came to an end with 15 wins and six losses.
“Overall I can’t really complain about the game because
Chatfield kept
on playing,” Bonn said. “They were a hard-
playing team. Every time we scored and got the lead we tried to
shut
the door but they were always there. We did some things right
and
we did some things wrong, they just did it better than we
did.”