Chatfield softball successfully defends 5A Jeffco League title

LITTLETON — Chatfield’s softball team made history Saturday, Oct. 12.

For the first time since the late-1990s (1996 and 1997), the Chargers captured back-to-back conference championships. Chatfield’s marathon — 2 hours and 30-minute — league finale ended with the Chargers taking a 15-9 home victory over Bear Creek to officially defend their Class 5A Jeffco League title.

“It means so much,” Chatfield senior Kylie Bickford said of the second consecutive league title. “We worked so hard to make sure we could come out and win league. We did everything we needed to do to win.”

Chatfield (17-6 record) and Valor Christian (19-4) actually finished tied in the league standings with 10-2 marks. The Chargers and Eagles split their two head-to-head league games, but Chatfield won the ‘runs allowed’ tiebreaker with Valor by a single run. The Chargers allowed 17 runs in their two meeting with the Eagles, while Valor gave up 18 runs in the two games against Chatfield.

Bear Creek (6-17, 1-11) didn’t make it easy on Chatfield. The Bears actually held a lead for the majority of the game. They were up 8-6 on the Chargers thanks to a 4-run top of the third inning.

“It was a tough week with a lot of distractions, Senior Day and homecoming week,” Chatfield coach Darin Shepard said. “We knew it would be a struggle to be completely focused, but we got the job done.”

The game started with an emotional first-pitch thrown by senior Kendall Holloway. The senior pitcher would have been Chatfield’s ace this season, but an injury — torn ACL — that required surgery the summer shelved Holloway for her entire senior season.

Holloway threw one pitch on Senior Day to the Bears’ lead-off batter Olivia Durazzo to start the game. Holloway received plenty of hugs after the first pitch as freshman Isabella Leech took the mound.

Leech pitched two innings allowing four runs and six hits. Sophomore Kayla Harpstreith came in on the mound in the third inning and struggled early giving up four runs on two hitting and walking three batters in the third inning.

Harpstreith was able to find a good rhythm on the mound from the fourth inning on. She allowed just one run on four hits and closed out the game retiring the Bears in order in the top of the seventh inning.

“She (Harpstreith) is a competitor,” Shepard said of his sophomore pitcher who picked up the win in relief. “She may not throw the hardest or have the most movement on her pitches, but she competes.”

Chatfield’s offense has been the driving force to the Chargers after starting the season with back-to-back losses. The Chargers have 14 double-digit run games.

It was the same story Saturday as Chatfield scored multiple runs in every inning against Bear Creek.

“This is one of the more consistent (offensive) games we’ve had scoring two or three runs every inning. That is what this team is capable of,” Shepard said. “If we clean-up our defense and get good pitching we can make a run.”

Bickford led the way going 3-for-5 from the plate with four RBIs. She also closed out the game with three assists on all three Bear Creek outs in the top of the seventh inning from her third base position.

“We strung together hits when we needed to,” Bickford said of the 13-hit, 15-run attack. “We did really good not getting down when (Bear Creek) scored.”

Chatfield will now try to complete the second step and repeat as a regional champion this weekend. The Chargers will found out Monday, Oct. 14, which of the eight regionals it will be in for the 32-team 5A postseason tournament.

“We are just going to have four good days of practice,” Shepard said as the Chargers prepare for regionals at the end of this week.

The Chargers had nine juniors on that year’s state championship squad that went on a 15-game winning streak to close out Chatfield’s state title run. All nine returned this year with the goal to get their hands on another state title.

“It is huge to have experience,” Bickford said of the veteran squad. “I hope we can help our underclassmen as much as possible. We are prepared and I’m excited to see how far we’ll go.”

Chatfield finished No. 7 in the final CHSAA seeding index and should host a regional on Friday and/or Saturday (Oct. 18 and 19). Jeffco rivals Columbine (No. 3) and Valor (No. 4) will also likely host regional tournament later this week.