Roaring Fork High School’s sports complex was abuzz with activity on Tuesday, with the Basalt Longhorns in town for back-to-back varsity baseball and girls soccer games.
The home team won both contests, including a 12-11 walk-off win in the extra eighth inning for the Roaring Fork baseball team, and a 3-0 shutout win for the Lady Rams on the soccer field.
After a scoreless first half of soccer action, junior Carley Crownhart gave her team a leg up with a goal early in the second. Then came junior Maddie Anderson’s first goal of the season with just over 27 minutes left to play in the game.
“Basalt throws in a lot of offsides traps, so I thought we did a good job of holding their line after getting called on a couple in the first half,” head Roaring Fork coach Nicole Cruz said after the win.
“We did better in the second half … staying onside, and we communicated as a team.”
Cruz said the team is sharing the offensive load more, and not relying on one or two players to get the job done.
Sophomore Maya Lindbloom, usually a back line player, also scored her first goal of the season in the closing seconds.
Audry Lopez stepped into the varsity goalkeeper position for junior Maggie Russell, who was out sick. Lopez recorded eleven saves for the Rams.
The win came on the heels of a 0-0 tie in non-league action Friday, April 19 at Manitou Springs, and improved the Rams to 6-3-2 overall and, more importantly, 3-0-1 in 3A Western Slope League (WSL) play. Roaring Fork hosts league-leading Delta (11-1, 4-0) at 6pm Thursday, April 25 at Rams Field for a game that could ultimately determine the league championship.
RF 9 slip past Longhorns
Down 11-9 going into the bottom of the extra eighth inning against Basalt, the Rams loaded the bases with patience at the plate that resulted in multiple walks from the Longhorns pitcher.
Back-to-back walks for senior Ben Oldham and sophomore Kenny Riley set the stage for junior Cole Fenton to lob a bloop single into shallow left field to score the winning run.
Head coach Marty Madsen noted his team has been in several extra-inning games this season, but has had a difficult time pulling off the win.
“We found a way,” Madsen said. “I mean, we made some mistakes in the field, and so did they, but in the end we battled at the plate and got it done.
“The one thing we have done all season is we do not quit,” he said. “These guys trust the lineup and trust that if we get a few guys on [base], anything’s possible.”
Roaring Fork struck first, taking a 2-0 lead into the third before Basalt exploded for eight runs and Roaring answered back with five to keep it at 8-7 Longhorns. Both teams added to the tally to make it 9-9 after seven innings, with Basalt scoring two to force the Rams into the walk-off position.
Roaring Fork won a non-league game Monday at home, 7-6, and now sits at 8-9 overall and 3-1 in the 3A WSL. The Rams host Cedaredge at 11am Saturday, April 27 for another important league game.
Girls lacrosse
The Roaring Fork girls lacrosse team picked up a pair of home wins ahead of last weekend, 14-8 over Fruita Monument on April 18 and a 22-8 league win over Eagle Valley the following night.
Junior Hailey Wolfe scored or contributed to seven points against Fruita, while sophomore Jordyn Miller was in on six points.
Against Eagle Valley, Wolfe, junior Josie McKinley-Kitchell and senior Grace Garcia were the leading contributors, scoring or assisting on eight goals each.
The Rams (6-4, 5-2) host Summit for a 4A Mountain East league game at 5:30pm Friday, April 26 before taking on league-leading Battle Mountain at 5:30pm Tuesday, April 30, also at home.
Track and Field
Competing at the Coal Ridge Invitational on Friday, April 19, Roaring Fork sophomore Nikki Tardif won the 200-meter dash with a time of 28.79 seconds. Tardif was also third in the 400-meter event with a personal-record (PR) time of 1:02.71.
Also scoring points for the Lady Rams were senior Kyra Reeds, third in both the 100 hurdles (17.36) and 300 hurdles (51.05); junior Isabella Moon, fourth 1600 meters (5:49 PR), and fifth 800 meters (2:41.46 PR); and the 4×800 team of Moon, sophomore Caroline Cole, freshman Sadie Silcox and senior Margauz Zeijlstra, sixth (12:02.79).