Niwot baseball splits two-game series with Roosevelt

While sweeping a regular season series in the Longs Peak League rarely comes easy, Niwot High School baseball head coach Ken Rosales couldn’t help feeling like his Cougars squandered an opportunity in their second meeting with Roosevelt High School.

Two days after beating the Roughriders on Tuesday, April 2, Niwot was beset by defensive errors in the two teams’ rematch. Rosales said the Cougars committed seven miscues on their home diamond, leading to a “rough” 4-3 loss.

“We definitely did not play our ball,” Rosales said. “I felt we were playing to the team. Nothing against Roosevelt, they're a good team, but I felt we were a much better team. We just need to get into the groove and know what each other is doing. I think we're gonna hop out of that and do much better.”

Rosales believes Niwot will bounce back, especially following a few defensive-minded practices. Still, the Cougars dropped to 4-2 overall and 1-1 in the Longs Peak League.

In Niwot’s 10-6 win over Roosevelt, designated hitter Kaige Kennedy produced a team-high three hits and drove one runner in. The junior owns a .500 batting average (7-for-14) and an unblemished earned run average in 8.1 innings pitched through Niwot’s first six games.

“He's been tremendous,” Rosales said of Kennedy. “He's making connection with the ball and then he's coming in and pitching for us and closing out our games very well.”

Fellow junior Charlie Shaw had two knocks and senior Brock Rothstein tallied one hit, an RBI, and scored three runs. Niwot also drew eight walks but stranded a season-high 24 runners on base.

On the mound, Rothstein allowed two earned runs in five innings before giving Kennedy the final two frames.

The Cougars received another strong pair of pitching performances in their second game against Roosevelt. Sophomore Henry Noblin struck out six and didn’t allow an earned run in 3.2 innings while Kennedy recorded the final 10 outs. Unfortunately for Noblin, errors led to four unearned runs.

“He (Noblin) pitched a heck of a game,” Rosales said. “Nothing against him that we lost. The pitching did very well.”

At the plate, Noblin, Haden Shaw, Jude Schechter and Jagger Kilpatrick each tallied one hit.

Niwot was scheduled to host Riverdale Ridge High School on Saturday, April 6, but the game was postponed to Tuesday, April 9, due to high winds. Rosales’ squad will play a doubleheader against the Ravens that day before beginning a two-game series against Severance High School (April 11 and 13).

“Riverdale Ridge is always tough and Severance is always tough,” Rosales said. “League games, no matter what, they're always tough.”

On Sunday, April 7, the NHS baseball program was set to hold a clinic in conjunction with Niwot Youth Sports, but high winds forced the event to be rescheduled for April 21, according to Rosales.