COLORADO SPRINGS — Severance High School coach Kevin Johnson wouldn’t call this victory the best birthday present of his life, but he said it’s definitely up there.
Johnson watched his Silver Knights baseball team beat top seed Holy Family 6-5 at Mountain Lion Park on May 27 to advance to the Class 4A title game, the first in school history. Whoever advances to face the them between Lutheran, Golden and Holy Family will have to win twice.
En route to the championship contest, the No. 6-seeded Silver Knights helped eliminate No. 3 Cheyenne Mountain and No. 2 Pueblo County and also dealt No. 1 Holy Family its first loss of the tournament.
The aforementioned teams had a combined record of 66-13. Holy Family had not lost a contest since March 21 — a 5-1 defeat to Regis Jesuit.
“What we were able to do this weekend is big and I’m just so proud of these kids,” Johnson said. “These kids have played together since they were little and have put in a ton of work. A lot of this victory goes to the parents and coaches for all of the time they’ve spent with them.”
Athletes and coaches spent an additional 45 minutes together following a lightning delay, the second in as many days for Severance.
Against Pueblo County on May 26, the Silver Knights failed to score out of the delay and didn’t post a run until the fourth inning.
Against Holy Family, Severance wasted no time getting runners across the dish.
Both teams scored in the first to make it 1-1, then the Silver Knights got three runs in the top of the second to build a 4-1 cushion.
In the top of the third, Mason Bright chose an ideal time to crush his first home run of the season.
Bright hit a 340-foot solo shot to left field to extend the Silver Knights’ lead to 5-1.
“It was a 2-0 count and I knew he was going to bring me a heater,” Bright said. “He threw two off-speed pitches, so I knew I needed to let it rip. The worst I could do was a 2-1 count. So I let it rip and thankfully I got a hold of it.”
The Silver Knights’ lead evaporated in the bottom of the third as the Tigers sent three runners home to close the gap to 5-4.
Severance allowed a pair of runs on a near foul ball that shaved the lead to one run.
“After that we knew we just had to keep our heads up,” Bright said. “We’ve been down before. We were down in the game against Pueblo County. We knew to keep our heads up and grind.”
The Silver Knights and Tigers exchanged runs in the sixth to make it 6-5.
Severance had an opportunity to pad its lead, but left the top of the seventh without scoring.
Holy Family picked up its first and second outs swiftly in the seventh, but then put a runner on first with potential to win the game.
In the final at-bat, Holy Family’s batter made contact and watched the ball slip past the mound and into the glove of shortstop Ty Adam, who scooped it up, stepped on second and ignited the Silver Knights’ celebration.
“We have eight seniors and kids who have been here before so we trust any of them,” Johnson said. “We happened to have a kid who’s one heck of an athlete and going to be a college basketball player make the play. That’s who I want them to hit it to: Someone who is a competitor and is going to make a play.”
The Silver Knights will play at 10 a.m. June 3 at UCHealth Park.
