Golden ace Laif Palmer throws ‘immaculate inning’ in victory

BY DENNIS PLEUSS JEFFCO PUBLIC SCHOOLS

WESTMINSTER — Golden senior pitcher Laif Palmer pulled off an “immaculate inning” April 15 at Standley Lake High School.

Palmer had three strikeouts on nine pitches in the bottom of the first inning against Standley Lake. The Gators’ first three batters were all called out looking at strikethree as Palmer hit low-90s on the radar guns that were keeping a sharp eye on the Oregon State University-commit.

“I can’t recall, but that is the goal,” Palmer said of having a 9-pitch, 3-strikeout inning. “The goal is to go out every inning and strike everyone out. It was a good way to start out the game.”

Palmer finished with 13 strikeouts in his complete-game victory. Golden — No. 7 in the CHSAANow. com Class 4A baseball rankings — captured its fifth straight victory with a 7-3 win.

“That was incredible,” Golden coach Jackie McBroom said of Palmer’s bottom of the first performance on the mound. “I’ve played baseball a long time. I can’t remember ever seeing that.”

Palmer was touched up with a solo home run by Standley Lake’s

Brody Geist in the bottom of the sixth inning that actually cut Golden’s lead to 2-1 heading to the seventh inning. Standley Lake’s Colton Martin and Geist each had RBI doubles in the bottom of the

“To be honest, it doesn’t really bother me,” Palmer said of giving up the home run in the sixth and a pair of RBI doubles in the seventh. “It’s on to the next pitch and get back up on the mound.”

Palmer did just that. He was able to strike out the side in the seventh to finish off the complete-game victory and keep the Demons (8-4, 3-0 in 4A Jeffco) atop the league standings. D’Evelyn (8-4, 3-0), Green Mountain (8-4, 3-0) and Evergreen (6-3, 3-0) are all tied at the top of 4A Jeffco through the first third of the conference games.

Standley Lake actually out-hit Golden seven to five. Gator starting pitcher Ian Rasmussen went six innings, giving up just three hits.

The Demons used some slick base running in the fifth inning to take a 1-0 lead. Sophomore Jaydon Stroup scored the first run when he stole third on a fake bunt attempt.

Standley Lake catcher Matthew Flowers threw to third, but with the