Colorado Preps Weekly

With the baseball season just reaching the midpoint, pitching continues to be ahead of hitting in many cases. Several area players added no-hitters to their stat lines in the past week, mirroring what has been happening on a national level, all the way to the professional ranks.

One day after being one-hit by Byers' Easton Eymann, Briggsdale got a no-no from freshman Tanner Fiscus last Tuesday. Fiscus held Peetz to two walks, while striking out eight in a 13-0 blanking in the first game of a doubleheader. S hane Donoho and Brianna Blickem each had three RBI in the win.

Limon picked up a no-hitter last Thursday, with Trey Hines shutting down Stratton/Liberty 15-0. Hines, who helped close out a two-hit shutout of Burlington last Tuesday, held the Knighted Eagles to a walk in a four-inning affair. He struck out eight. Four Badgers drove in a pair of runs apiece. On Tuesday, Hines got the final two outs of the 7-0 win over Burlington. Brady Rockwell went the first 6.1 innings, allowing two hits and two walks.

Burlington's Mikel Long got the call last Thursday and he responded by shutting out Akron 15-0. The junior right-hander allowed a lead-off single and three walks, while striking out a dozen Rams. He got out of a first inning jam by getting a 5-2-3 double play with the bases loaded and was on cruise control from there on. Michael Gutierrez went 3-3 at the plate, with a double, two singles, a walk, three runs scored, three knocked home and two stolen bases. Hunter Tracy drove in four runs.

Thursday was also a good day for Brush junior Kaden Moriarity. Moriarity worked the second game of a doubleheader with Sterling and he threw a no-hitter for the Beetdiggers, allowing four walks and 15 strike outs in seven innings. The Diggers won 6-0, completing the sweep of the Tigers after taking the opener 9-7. That was part of a tough week for the Tigers, who were three-hit by Eaton in a 4-0 loss on Saturday.

Last week wasn't just about pitching and defense, as a number of teams broke out the big bats. Las Animas had a good outing last Wednesday, sweeping a doubleheader from La Veta 13-3 and 17-3. Justin Miller drove in five runs in the opener, and TJ Ortiz did the same in the second game.

Swink popped Dolores Huerta 26-5 on Tuesday, scoring 15 runs in the third inning. Nathan Paolucci drove home six runs, matching his total in the first six games of the season. The senior picked up his first triple of the year in the victory.

Tanner Gerk drove home five runs for Caliche in last Thursday's 20-5 win over Otis. JT Pollart knocked in three, hitting his third home run of the season in the process.

Granada took a doubleheader from Springfield on Friday, winning 16-0 and 7-3. Stratton/Liberty won both games of a Tri at Eads, beating La Veta 14-2 and then scratching out a late 3-2 comeback against Eads. Eads had beaten La Veta 17-2 in their other game.

La Junta found its rhythm at the dish in Saturday's doubleheader at Ellicott. The Tigers walloped their hosts 20-3 and 26-3. Luke Garner homered and knocked in five runs in the opener and the freshman followed that up with another home run and three RBI in the nightcap. Chris Salas drove home six in the second game.

Fowler picked up two wins on Saturday, blasting County Line 25-5 and easing past Rocky Ford 7-5. Rocky Ford also downed County Line, 11-1.

Lamar's hitters feasted on opposing pitching, taking both games of a Thursday doubleheader against James Irwin by identical 18-3 scores. The Savages also beat Pagosa Springs 16-6 and Alamosa 7-6, on Saturday.

Saturday saw two big track and field meets in the region, with Holly hosting the Tri-League meet, and Limon hosting its annual Warren Mitchell Invitational. Springfield's girls edged out Granada to win the clash at Holly (112-96), while Cheyenne Wells won the spirited boys side (98-92) over Granada. One of the highlights on the boys side was Granada's John Hainer winning both the shot and discus. Springfield's girls won all of the relay races.

Lamar took the girls championship of the 57th Warren Mitchell Invitational, getting individual titles from Karina Gomez in the 3200 meter run and Alee Tice in the shot put. Tice also finished second in the discus.

The hardware on the boys side remained in Limon, with the Badgers nearly doubling up second place Burlington (139.5-74). Eli Weisensee won the javelin, was second in the shot, and sixth in the discus. Burlington's Keaton Floyd won the shot, while the top honors in the discus went to Crowley County's Terrance McNeil.

One of the other standout performers in the meet was Lone Star's Alivia Weathers. The junior won three individual events, breaking the meet record in the pole vault (9'01”) and setting a new fastest 1A time in the 100 hurdles (17.11 seconds). She also claimed the crown in the 300 hurdles. Weathers also just missed out on being named all-state in Class 4A gymnastics earlier in the week.

The season didn't get off to a good start for the Sterling girls soccer squad, as they were defeated 10-0 by Frontier Academy last Thursday. They were set to host Valley on Tuesday in Patriot League play.

Things haven't gone any better for Fort Morgan, who fell to 0-3 with losses to Northridge (10-1), Mountain View (6-2), and Niwot (9-0) last week. This week's slate included a home match with Severance on Tuesday and a road trip to Frederick on Wednesday.