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Weekends like this are what softball fans wait for.
Both Central and Grand Junction have plenty riding on the outcome from a set of back-to-back Southwestern League doubleheaders starting Friday at the Kronkright Complex.
For Central (6-0 league, 13-2 overall), who led the SWL from the start of the campaign, winning three of its four remaining games against Durango on Friday and Montezuma-Cortez Saturday gives the Warriors their second league crown in as many seasons.
That’s just for starters.
A four-game Central sweep should translate to a high seed in next week’s regional round of the Class 5A state playoffs along with putting them in line to host one of the eight regional tournaments next weekend.
This weekend’s even more crucial for Grand Junction (2-4, 10-4), who hope that a four-game sweep will be enough to influence the state softball tournament committee to give the Tigers one of five tournament at-large bids available.
And the Tigers have found their game, winning three of their last four games entering Friday’s twin-bill with Montezuma-Cortez.
“We’ve been more disiplined with our hitting. And our defense has been getting into the flow,” said infielder Andrea Rascon. “Errors have gotten to us. That was due to nerves. But we worked on controlling them.”
Should Grand Junction pull off the sweep, it will give the Tigers 14 wins on the year. That number matchs up well against the other possible candidates hoping to get one of those at-large berths.
According to the Colorado High School Activities Association, 27 of the 32 regional slots are accounted for.
Two of those playoff berths go to the first and second place finisher in the Southwestern League. Pending Central’s running the table and clinching the league pennant, the Warriors will earn the No. 1 seed. No. 2 goes to league runner-up Fruita Monument (8-2, 12-6).
The Wildcats concluded their season Tuesday, losing 4-0 to Central at Mesa State College.
Statewide, the balance of the guaranteed berths are as follows: Six teams advance out of the Front Range League, five from the 5A Jefferson County League. Both the Continental and Colorado Springs Metro Leagues receive four playoff slots. Three advance from the Continental League, as do the two top teams out of the Denver Prep League plus the Skyline League champion.
According to Rocky Preps statistics, four schools among those teams vying for at-large berths have complied a better win-loss record than Grand Junction heading into the final weekend of the regular season.
Depending on what happens to the Tigers, one of the at-large berths probably will go to the sixth-place Jeffco League finisher between No. 9 ranked Pomona or Lakewood, who each have 13 wins. The same rationale can be applied to Continental League members Douglas County and Ponderosa, who are both 13-5 (4-5 league) with one game left to play.
Grand Junction has an edge on the 5A’s other 10-win teams — Fort Lupton (10-8) and Eaglecrest (10-7) — due to the Tigers having four games left against one remaining contest for both the Skyline League Blue Devils and the Centennial loop’s Raptors.
Individual team seeding along with playing sites of all 5A regional tournaments will be released Sunday by the CHSAA.
Reach Phil Sandoval at psandoval@gjfreepress.com.
Both Central and Grand Junction have plenty riding on the outcome from a set of back-to-back Southwestern League doubleheaders starting Friday at the Kronkright Complex.
For Central (6-0 league, 13-2 overall), who led the SWL from the start of the campaign, winning three of its four remaining games against Durango on Friday and Montezuma-Cortez Saturday gives the Warriors their second league crown in as many seasons.
That’s just for starters.
A four-game Central sweep should translate to a high seed in next week’s regional round of the Class 5A state playoffs along with putting them in line to host one of the eight regional tournaments next weekend.
This weekend’s even more crucial for Grand Junction (2-4, 10-4), who hope that a four-game sweep will be enough to influence the state softball tournament committee to give the Tigers one of five tournament at-large bids available.
And the Tigers have found their game, winning three of their last four games entering Friday’s twin-bill with Montezuma-Cortez.
“We’ve been more disiplined with our hitting. And our defense has been getting into the flow,” said infielder Andrea Rascon. “Errors have gotten to us. That was due to nerves. But we worked on controlling them.”
Should Grand Junction pull off the sweep, it will give the Tigers 14 wins on the year. That number matchs up well against the other possible candidates hoping to get one of those at-large berths.
According to the Colorado High School Activities Association, 27 of the 32 regional slots are accounted for.
Two of those playoff berths go to the first and second place finisher in the Southwestern League. Pending Central’s running the table and clinching the league pennant, the Warriors will earn the No. 1 seed. No. 2 goes to league runner-up Fruita Monument (8-2, 12-6).
The Wildcats concluded their season Tuesday, losing 4-0 to Central at Mesa State College.
Statewide, the balance of the guaranteed berths are as follows: Six teams advance out of the Front Range League, five from the 5A Jefferson County League. Both the Continental and Colorado Springs Metro Leagues receive four playoff slots. Three advance from the Continental League, as do the two top teams out of the Denver Prep League plus the Skyline League champion.
According to Rocky Preps statistics, four schools among those teams vying for at-large berths have complied a better win-loss record than Grand Junction heading into the final weekend of the regular season.
Depending on what happens to the Tigers, one of the at-large berths probably will go to the sixth-place Jeffco League finisher between No. 9 ranked Pomona or Lakewood, who each have 13 wins. The same rationale can be applied to Continental League members Douglas County and Ponderosa, who are both 13-5 (4-5 league) with one game left to play.
Grand Junction has an edge on the 5A’s other 10-win teams — Fort Lupton (10-8) and Eaglecrest (10-7) — due to the Tigers having four games left against one remaining contest for both the Skyline League Blue Devils and the Centennial loop’s Raptors.
Individual team seeding along with playing sites of all 5A regional tournaments will be released Sunday by the CHSAA.
Reach Phil Sandoval at psandoval@gjfreepress.com.
