ARVADA — On Senior Day for Arvada West’s softball, it was a complete team effort.
The Wildcats (11-7, 5-3 in Class 5A Jeffco League) grabbed a 8-6 home victory over rival Ralston Valley on Monday. A-West also completed a season sweep of the Mustangs (5-12, 2-7), having defeated its area-rival 4-2 earlier in the season.
“The competition is always great between the two teams,” A-West junior Morgan Farr said of the softball rivalry between Ralston Valley and A-West, along with Senior Day for the Wildcats. “You want to come out and support the seniors because they are the leaders of the team.”
Farr helped lead the way with the complete-game victory in the circle, along with going 3-for-3 from the plate with a pair of doubles. Sophomore Macie Ferguson and senior Serenity Horton also had a three-hit game for the Wildcats.
A 5-run bottom of the third inning allowed A-West to take a 6-2 lead. However, a couple of base running miscues prevented the Wildcats from opening up even a bigger lead.
“We got ourselves out a few times,” Farr said of the Wildcats only putting up eight runs on 15 hits. “For the most part, we swung the bats really well. I’m OK with aggressive base running errors.”
Ralston Valley is squarely on the bubble to make the 32-team 5A regional field. The Mustangs have battled injuries this season and are 34th in the CHSAA Selection & Seeding Index after the loss.
After a scary collision between Ralston Valley senior catcher Mallory Chavez and sophomore first baseman Nina Renk on an infield pop-out that ended the sixth inning, the Mustangs regrouped quickly with three straight hits to start the seventh inning.
Sophomore Stella Emnott started the rally with a lead-off double. Chavez stayed in the game despite the collision with Renk and ripped an RBI single. Bella Grieve pitch-hit for Renk and doubled to keep things going.
Farr, who has carried the pitching load almost completely this season for the Wildcats, was able to get a couple of groundouts and a fly-out to end the game.
“This is the position anyone should want to be in,” Farr said after going over 100 innings pitched so far this season on Monday. “I get countless amount of reps. I can have a bad day, but I can start the next day. Absolutely a lot of pressure, but pressure is a privilege.”
A-West is 11th in the selection and seeding index. The Wildcats also have an outside shot at the 5A Jeffco League title. Valor (16-3, 7-1) suffered its first conference loss Monday with a 15-5 home loss to Chatfield.
Valor has a 1-game lead over Chatfield (12-6, 5-2), while Columbine (14-5, 5-3) and A-West still have a shot to catch the Eagles.
A-West closes out its league schedule facing team Lakewood, Chatfield, Bear Creek and Valor over the next two weeks.
“Failure can be a good thing,” Farr said about league losses to Columbine, Lakewood and Valor. “We are learning from all the past failures and cleaning up the little things. We are doing a great job so far. I’m excited to see how far we go.”
Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Public Schools
