Niwot girls fall short in state quarterfinals

By Michael Kelly, For the Ledger

AURORA — Last year Niwot didn`t even make the postseason. Friday, they were four outs from reaching the state semifinals when Mullen came alive, winning 4-3.

Down 3-2 in the bottom of the sixth, Shannon Lempeck tripled to tie the game at 3, then in the bottom of the seventh the Mustangs capitalized on shortstop Erin Fahring`s error to score and beat the upset-minded Cougars.

It was a tough one to swallow for Niwot, which got this far because of defense and the pitching of Kali Haas.

“Haas goes up there throwing hard because she knows our defense can make a play,” Niwot coach April Martinez said. “It was just unfortunate that one error at that particular time cost us, but not because of a lack of effort.”

No, if the Cougars were going to fold it would have been early. Mullen took a 2-0 lead in the first inning and had bases loaded with one out. But Haas got stingy.

The Mustangs loaded the bases again in the second, but a strikeout and a good play by Fahring kept Niwot within two runs.

“Our whole mantra for this season is believe, believe,” Haas said. “We took it upon ourselves to not make that a blowout game and we bounced back.”

The Cougars rebounded in the third, batting around in the frame and taking a 3-2 lead on Nickie Blue`s bases-loaded single.

“We came back from a two-run deficit,” Martinez said. “Our bats started to come alive and Haas got stronger.”

After a nail-biting 1-0 win over Evergreen in the first game Friday, the Cougars were poised to win another close one when Angela Hawkins led off the sixth with a walk, moved to second on a sacrifice and came home on Lempeck`s triple.

The Mustangs won it when Gia Marquez`s slow grounder to second scored Brandi Hawkins from third with the winning run.

“It could have gone either way and obviously it went their way,” Haas said. “But we left it all on the field.”

4A state softball

NIWOT 1, EVERGREEN 0

Score by innings:

Evergreen 000 000 0 — 0 4 1

Niwot 100 000 x — 1 6 0

Phillips and Lafrinere. Haas and Paterra. W — Haas. L — Phillips.

Evergreen hitting – Lafrinere 2-4, Bronson 0-3, Doctor 1-2, Martin 0-2, Lanning 0-3, Keitlen 0-3, Phillips 0-2, Harris 0-2, Ryan 0-1.

Niwot hitting — Jones 1-3, Haas 1-3, Paterra 0-3, Blue 1-3, Fahring 0-3, Keschl 2-3, Goodenow 0-3, Kirkpatrick 1-2, Johnson 0-2. 3B — Haas.

MULLEN 4, NIWOT 3

Score by innings:

Niwot 003 000 0 — 3 5 2

Mullen 200 001 1 — 4 7 0

Haas and Paterra. Marquez and Hawkins. W — Marquez. L — Haas.

Niwot hitting — Jones 1-4, Haas 2-4, Paterra 1-4, Blue 1-3, Fahring 0-3, Keschl 0-3, Goodenow 0-3, Johnson 0-2, Kirkpatrick 0-2.

Mullen hitting – Shell 1-3, Lempeck 2-4, D`Ottavio 1-3, Hawkins 1-3, Vigil 1-2, Marquez 0-4, Kene 1-3, Gomez 0-2, Ponazzo 1-2. 2B – Haas, Lempeck. 3B — Lempeck.