Booth's bat leads Niwot softball past Frederick

In an eight-inning thriller east of I-25, Niwot softball upset the top-10 ranked Frederick Warriors 16-14 on its home turf on Thursday, Sept. 24. The Cougars moved to 6-8 on the season with two games remaining.

Niwot played in its ninth game decided by two runs or less, but it was anything but close early on. Behind a two-run home run, Frederick scored three runs in the first inning off freshman pitcher Anne Booth before Niwot erupted for nine runs in the second. The Cougars were station-to-station in the inning, hitting seven singles and drawing three walks. Freshman Autumn Rutherford, who started the game at shortstop and later moved to center field, and Booth both had multiple RBIs in the frame.

With a 9-3 lead against a top-ranked team, Niwot's youth reared its head in the bottom half of the inning. Niwot committed four errors in the frame and allowed nine runs for Frederick to come all the way back and then some.

A combined eighteen-run second inning left Niwot hitting the bat racks down three runs once again. Niwot would chip away with junior shortstop Ayva McComas driving in Rutherford to cut the score to 12-10. Junior third baseman Jasmine Aldama then reached on a single and later scored from second base on a Booth sacrifice fly to tie the game.

Niwot head coach Bobby Matthews felt comfortable in Niwot's ability to stay focused in a now close game.

"It was a game built for us at that point," Matthews said. "That's what we've been doing all year. We've never backed down and we haven't all year and we have resiliency. Things will go wrong and these girls just pick themselves up."

The next few innings were much quieter. Booth settled in and allowed one run in both the fourth and fifth inning. Sophomore left fielder Josephine Gravelle scored in the sixth for Niwot and the Cougars entered the seventh down 14-13.

Matthews' philosophy of simply putting the ball in play on offense paid off. Booth reached on a fielder's choice and scored the tying run on a Gravelle dribbler to the mound and a Warrior error. Niwot left the bases loaded and Booth shut down the side in order to bring the game to extra innings.

A walk, an error, a fielder's choice and a wild pitch put runners on second and third when Booth strode to the plate. With a 3-0 count, Booth had the green light and ripped a double in the gap to bring home a pair of Cougars. It was Niwot's first extra-base hit of the game. Booth could hardly put words to how the clutch hit felt, "It was insane. I can't even describe it, it was so awesome," she said. In the bottom half, she closed it out in the circle while retiring 10 of the last 11 Warriors in crunch time.

After the game, Matthews said Niwot has grown "leaps and bounds" from the beginning of the year. He highlighted the improved bat of Gravelle and the reliable glove of McComas for coming up big. "I couldn't be prouder of them and they've worked so hard to get to this point," he said. The win felt extra special for Matthews who graduated from Frederick High and coached wrestling there for 12 years.

Niwot will play its final week of the season at home against Thompson Valley on Sept. 29 and against Frederick on Oct. 1.