Not even Mother Nature could stop the Southwest Colorado Youth Baseball Senior team.
The group of Cortez, Dolores and Dove Creek players battled through multiple rain delays over two days to secure a 13-2 victory over Sherrelwood to win the Colorado Senior State Tournament and advance to the Senior League Baseball Southwest Regional.
Colorado Little League District 4 administrator Lisa Passell said that in the nearly 20 years that she has been affiliated with the league, no Cortez team has ever advanced to a regional tournament.
The SWC Seniors made history on Tuesday in Thornton – but their road to the championship had a rocky start.
In their opening game last Thursday, the Seniors committed four errors and had just four hits in a 9-2 loss to Sherrelwood.
However, head coach Tim Passell felt that even in the loss, his team seized momentum near the end of the contest after scoring a few runs and loading the bases, although the game was later called due to darkness and the score reverted back to that from the last completed inning.
The Seniors carried the momentum into a win-or-go-home matchup against Cherry Creek on Saturday, and Dakota Smith, Derek Kibel and Payton Langston combined to pitch seven scoreless innings and the Seniors stayed alive with a 9-0 win.
“We were just trying to get our feet wet and get the nerves out in that first game,” said Passell. “But then in the game against Cherry Creek we felt like we had our backs against the wall, so we just came out and took it.”
After eliminating Cherry Creek, the Seniors were slated to face Sherrelwood again on Sunday. Sherrelwood was 2-0 in the double-elimination tournament and needed to beat the Seniors just once more to become the champions, whereas the crew from southwestern Colorado needed to topple Sherrelwood twice in order to claim the title.
But on Sunday, fueled by a stellar performance on the mound by Kibel – 7 IP, 4 hits, 2 ER, 7 Ks – the Seniors took down Sherrelwood 9-3 to force a winner-take-all championship game.
The Seniors jumped out early in the title game on Monday and led 3-0 after one inning.
But then the game was postponed due to lightning and the teams would try again the next day.
Picking up where they left off in the second inning on Tuesday, the Seniors continued to pile on more runs, and by the fourth inning they were up 12-2.
And then came a rain delay.
Finally, after multiple stops in play due to weather, the game that spanned over two days concluded after five innings, with the Seniors winning by ten-run rule, 12-2.
Smith pitched all five innings and allowed just three hits and one earned run while striking out five. He also went a perfect 3-for-3 from the plate with two runs scored and three RBIs.
Passell noted the leadership that Andrew Medina, Derek Kibel and David Schmittel brought to the team before highlighting Brennan Hite’s outstanding play in center field.
He also thanked assistant coach Bryan Hite and former Dolores baseball players Tyler Underwood and Austin McCracken for their help instructing and motivating the team.
The SWC Seniors have a quick turnaround, as they will represent the state of Colorado in the Southwestern Regional in Seguin, Texas beginning Saturday at 1 p.m. against New Braunfels Little League.
The regional features seven teams, with three squads from Texas and teams representing Colorado, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Louisiana. The regional champion will advance to the Senior League Baseball World Series in Bangor, Maine from July 31-August 6.
“We have a really talented group of kids, so I feel like we can compete with anybody,” Passell concluded.
