3A: Erie dethroned by Holy Family

Tigers' reign in 3A ends; Baumberger has four-hit shutout

John Rosa, Special to the News

Published October 24, 2006 at midnight

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AURORA - Since the switch to three classifications for the state softball tournament in 1998, the Erie Tigers have reigned supreme over Class 3A, winning the past six championships and seven of eight overall.

During that time, no team has felt the crush of Erie's dominance more than Holy Family.

Holy Family has one of the top programs in 3A but never could find a way to get past Erie, having been eliminated at the state tournament by the Tigers four of the past five years and six times overall.

That included a loss in the title game last season.

Holy Family got a measure of revenge Monday night under the lights at Aurora Sports Park, pounding Erie 6-0 in the 3A state title game.

The Holy Family victory snapped Erie's state-record tournament winning streak at 27 games and brought the Broomfield school its first softball championship.

Holy Family coach Glen Ramos said winning the title was sweet but admitted it wouldn't have been as gratifying if it had came against a different opponent.

"It was all about coming here and playing Erie," said Ramos, who has led Holy Family the past 10 seasons. "To be the best you have to beat the best.

"They say that you can be a good team, but to be a great team you have to win the championship."

Holy Family rode the arm of senior pitcher Sara Baumberger to the title.

Baumberger, the Rocky Mountain News tournament most valuable player, picked up her fourth victory of the tournament by striking out seven and scattering four hits.

It came after a brilliant semifinal outing earlier Monday, when she led Holy Family to a 2-0 10-inning victory against Limon with a four-hit, 17-strikeout effort.

Baumberger, who took the loss in the 2005 title game despite not surrendering an earned run, said that disappointment served as motivation for the team during this season.

"We've been waiting for this the whole season," Baumberger said. "Erie's one of our biggest rivals, so to come out here and show what we have is amazing."

While Baumberger kept Erie at bay, teammate Alyssa Sommers put a spark in the Holy Family offense.

After a scoreless first inning, Sommers put Holy Family ahead by smashing a three-run home run over the center-field fence in the top of the second inning.

It was Sommers' second home run in two at-bats, as she also hit a solo shot in the 10th inning of Holy Family's victory against Limon.

"They just kind of came out from nowhere," Sommers said. "I just saw it and took a swing at it and it just went over."

Erie coach Bob Bledsoe said Sommers' blast changed the complexion of the championship game.

"Drawing first blood was really big and (Holy Family) did it in a big way with that home run," Bledsoe said. "That took a lot of wind out of us.

"The next couple of runs were on us.

"We kicked it around and were back on our heels.

"That really got us down and buried us a little too deep against a pitcher like (Baumberger)."

Erie errors led to Holy Family's next two runs as it pushed the lead to 5-0 after three innings.

Holy Family added an insurance run in the sixth as Lara Mathewson stroked a two-out single to left field that scored Mary Peterson.

The only time Erie threatened was in the fifth inning when it had runners on first and second base with no out.

But Baumberger snagged a line drive back up the middle by Peggy Nichols to start a double play, then got some help on a great catch by shortstop Lindsey Halligan to end the threat.

Halligan, Peterson and Caitlin Hollick each had two hits to pace the Holy Family offense.

HF (ab-r-h-rbi) - Mathewson 2b 4-0-1-1, McGinnis cf 4-0-0-0, Halligan ss 4-1-2-0, Hollick 3b 3-0-2-0, Baumberger p 3-0-0-0, Clynke cr 0-1-0-0, Connelly c 3-0-0-0, Boothe cr 0-1-0-0, Sommers dh 3-1-1-3, Peterson rf 3-2-2-0, Johnson 1b 1-0-0-0. Totals 28-6-8-4. Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-k) - Baumberger 7-4-0-0-0-7.

E - Ruiz 2b 3-0-1-0, Rieder rf 3-0-0-0, Ortega ss 3-0-1-0, Rahrich 1b 3-0-2-0, Estrada c 3-0-0-0, Nichols cf 3-0-0-0, Parker 3b 2-0-0-0, Baker lf 2-0-0-0, Smith p 2-0-0-0. Totals 24-0-4-0. Pitching - Smith 7-7-6-4-1-4.

HR - Sommers, two on in second. SAC - Johnson 2. E - Parker, Rahrich, Baker, Johnson.

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