Niwot baseball opens season with pair of convincing wins

At the plate, on the mound, and in the field, almost everything was clicking for Niwot High School baseball in the first two games of the new season.

The Cougars, loaded with a slew of returning starters, hosted Timnath High School in their season opener on Thursday, March 7. In what was a darkness-shortened five-inning affair, Niwot beat the visiting Cubs, 5-0.

Senior Brock Rothstein got the start and struck out six in three innings pitched. Despite some early control issues, which resulted in two first-inning walks, Niwot's ace left without surrendering a hit. From there, sophomore Henry Noblin completed the combined no-hitter while striking out five in two frames.

Noblin, who pitched 19.2 innings as a freshman last year, didn't need much more than his overpowering fastball to quiet the Cubs' bats.

Offensively, junior right fielder Charlie Shaw slugged a skyscraping two-run home run in his first at-bat of the season.

"I had a guy on second (Rothstein), so I was really looking to drive something and make hard contact," Shaw said of his first-inning blast. "It's always nervous starting out the season, so to get a good hit like that, it really helps build confidence."

Shaw later tallied a triple and finished with two of Niwot's seven total hits. Rothstein, center fielder Arlo Richards, catcher Haden Shaw, designated hitter Kaige Kennedy, and shortstop Sergio Pimentel each had one knock.

While third-year Niwot head coach Ken Rosales admitted that the bats "could have been livelier," he was impressed overall by his team's opening day performance.

"That's a game we should win," Rosales said. "The effort was great for being our first game. I like how we came out. We were all on fire and we were ready to go. We're going to get the season started and get rolling on a good note."

Charlie Shaw shared that after falling in last season's Class 4A Region 7 championship game, the Cougars needed a confidence-boosting win to start their new campaign.

"That's exactly how we wanted to start," Shaw said. "We've been itching to get back ever since our regional game last year. It was a sour loss and ever since the school year started, we've been playing other sports, but we've all been just itching to get back to baseball. To come out and have success - we still got room to improve, obviously - it's a very solid start."

Two days later, Niwot delivered on Rosales' wish for more offense with an 18-0 mercy-rule win at Weld Central High School. Six different Cougars tallied at least two hits, including Jack Schrock, Drew Stapp, Rothstein, Richards and both Shaw brothers. Niwot produced 12 of its 18 total runs in the second inning.

On the mound, starter Jagger Kilpatrick and Kennedy each threw two innings, with the former allowing Weld Central's only hit.

Niwot will host Silver Creek High School on Tuesday, March 12, before enjoying a two-week break from games.