Arvada West baseball strikes first as 5A Jeffco League play begins

LITTLETON — Arvada West sophomore Cooper Vais was about as effective and efficient as a starting pitcher can be on opening day of Class 5A Jeffco League play.

Vais tossed five shutout innings, allowing just two hits while striking out 13 batters Thursday at Chatfield Senior High School. A-West cruised to a 9-2 victory over the Chargers in the conference opener.

“I wanted to make them (Chatfield batters) work and make them put the ball in play,” Cooper Vais said of his approach on the mound. “I wanted to mix up my timing and different speeds.”

Chatfield (7-5, 0-1 in league) struggled to put the ball in play.

“I love watching it,” A-West senior shortstop Tate Deal said of A-West’s sophomore ace on the hill. “It is good energy for us. I love watching it. It’s fun.”

Senior Colin Metz had half of the Chargers’ four hits. Metz singled in the first and seventh innings. Senior JR Harpstreith singled off of Cooper Vais in the fifth inning, but the sophomore finished his final inning with back-to-back strike outs to hit his career-high of 13 strikeouts in a single game.

A-West coach and Cooper’s father — Danny Vais — decided to pull Cooper from the mound after throwing 66 pitches through five innings. The Wildcats (8-2-1) had a commanding 8-0 lead.

“He (Cooper) is a really important part of this team and this team’s success,” Coach Vais said of his son. “Hopefully everyone around here knows I have his best interest at heart. I’m going to put our team in a situation to win.”

Junior Luke Alonso took the mound in the sixth inning. He retired the side in order in the sixth inning, but Chatfield freshman Brady Harman broke up the shutout bid with a 2-run home run. Junior Beau Friesen got the final two outs on the mound to end the game.

“Obviously I wanted to stay in there and finish that game,” Cooper Vais said of moving from the mound to centerfield in the bottom of the sixth inning. “It was a great team win. The team finished it out for us.”

A-West hitters took advantage of the six different Chatfield pitchers walking 10 batters. Five of those walks scored and the Wildcats combined for nine hits.

“Offensively, I really like our approach today,” said Coach Vais after the Wildcats plated five of the free passes.

Deal delivered a 2-out double in the top of the first inning. Alonso drove in Deal with an RBI single to left to grab the lead.

“Setting the tone early,” Deal said of A-West taking the lead. “We want to let the guys on the bump do their thing. Offensively, we want to get as many runs as early as we can.”

A-West pushed the lead to 3-0 with a 2-run double by Friesen in the fourth inning. The Wildcats poured it on with a 5-run fifth inning sending 10 batters to the plate and extending the lead to 8-0.

“Absolutely. Absolutely,” Coach Vais said when asked if he got just what he wanted in the Wildcats’ league opener. “Chatfield has been playing really well. We dropped one on Tuesday where Fort Collins played us really tough. It kind of woke us up.”

There is a new conference format this season with 7-team 5A Jeffco League playing back-to-back, home-and-away series. Chatfield will travel to A-West on Saturday, April 12, to complete the first series of conference play.

“It’s a big win, especially against a good team,” Deal said. “It’s good to get that momentum started, especially in league.”