Eleven-run inning powers Broomfield to 5A softball title

AURORA – Kale Gilmore has seen many things in baseball and softball, but never before what unfolded Saturday afternoon at the Aurora Sports Park.

His top-seeded Broomfield softball team saw its hopes of winning the program’s first-ever Class 5A state championship dip in the middle of its contest against sixth-seeded Legend, only to be resurrected with a stunning 11-run rally in the bottom of the fifth inning that ended with a 17-7 walk-off victory.

Gilmore’s senior-heavy team sent 16 hitters to the plate in the final frame, 12 of them got hits and 11 of them came across the plate as the Eagles finally reached the pinnacle of Colorado softball and in the most memorable way possible.

“That inning was incredible, I’ve never seen anything like it,” Gilmore said. “If you look at our boxscores the last several weeks, it’s been 1, 2, 1 (runs) then a nine-spot or a 10-spot or now an 11-spot. We knew it was in there, we were just hoping it would show up at some point today and lucky for us, it showed up in that inning.”

In a topsy-turvy contest that had saw Broomfield put up the first four runs of the game against Legend starter Maddie Kessler, then see the Titans punch back with a six-run rally and hold a two-run lead as the innings marched on, just getting back into the game was heavy on the Eagles’ minds.

They did way more than that with their final at-bat, which was an absolute hit parade.

Senior Lauren Martinez reached base first when she was hit by a pitch and that was followed by an out by senior Lilly Smith — the final hero of Broomfield’s 5-4 walk-off win in nine innings over fifth-seeded Eaglecrest in the semifinals as she delivered a sacrifice fly — but the floodgates began with back-to-back doubles by seniors Ireland Heer and Avery Gines that knotted the game at 7-7.

“It was crazy, the energy we had just shows our motto, which is all for one,” Gines said. “It really was all for one. The first person got it going and it goes through the whole team.”

The Eagles did not stop one the game was tied, as senior Serenity Molloy broke the tie with a run-scoring single, then junior Myah Becker — who reached base in three of her four at-bats and scored three times — knocked in two runs to expand the lead. The second out of the inning came on a line drive out off the bat of senior Kiley Wheaton (who had doubled and scored on an overthrow the previous inning) then Martinez, Heer, Gines, senior Kaitlyn Halliday and senior Lauren Hernandez also drove in runs.

Malloy ended it with a single to left field off Legend reliever Reese Bryant that sealed the title.

“That was so amazing, we were down, then got up and just kept scoring,” said Heer, who started the game on the mound, went out in favor of Delaney Meehan in Legend’s fourth inning at-bat and then returned to finish out the game.

“I’m super excited because I know we worked super hard for this,” she added through tears of joy.

The state championship was cathartic in so many ways for the program.

For Gilmore, it somewhat eased the memory of 1-0 extra-inning loss to Cherokee Trail back in 2016 with his daughter Taylor on the mound.

“It does build up and the pressure is real,” Gilmore said. “This is in a way redemption for 2016 and it feels good for my daughter and all those on other teams in the past to see us win the first 5A state championship in history. Broomfield is a special place and this is why I took the job.”

Also put in the rearview mirror were past disappointments such as last season, when a one-run semifinal loss to Cherokee Trail prevented possibly winning a title earlier.

“Last year it was a little bit of a rough ending, so we used that as motivation for this year,” Gines said. “We had 12 seniors and we really gave it our all.

“I’m going to remember the energy in the dugout, the dogpile at the end and being with these girls for the last time. It was all amazing.”