Lightning and Thunderhawks in heated battle

Legacy ekes out win after controversial 7th inning call

BY JONATHAN MANESS SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA

BROOMFIELD - e Legacy high school baseball team came up with a big victory in the Front Range League Saturday, but not without controversy.

e No. 6 Lightning rallied from a 4-run de cit to beat Prairie View 5-4 in a heated contest between the two league rivals.

e controversy occurred in the bottom of the seventh with the underhawks nursing a 4-3 advantage with two outs and Legacy had the bases the bases. A Legacy runner was tagged out after running into Prairie View’s second-baseman Romani Perez, who had the ball, and what looked like a underhawk victory with the nal out. However, the call was reversed, and Perez was called for obstruction of the runner and Legacy’s tying run crossed the plate to force extra innings.

e call caused chaos in a highly contentious game, with shouting matches ensuing from both teams before the coaches were able to calm the situation down.

e Lightning didn’t let the opportunity go to waste and Ethan Sanchez hit a home run in the eighth to seal the victory for

“I’m proud of how they battled, and proud of how they came back.” Legacy coach Ty Giordano said. “Obviously it was heated. ere are a lot of things I don’t like to see on the baseball eld. A lot of anger, a lot of language and ghting. ere is no place for that. But I like to see the competitiveness.” Prairie View started strong with three runs in the rst inning and then adding another run in the third.

Pitcher Favi Gaeta was dominating the game on the mound and at the plate for the underhawks. e sophomore went 2-for4 at the plate, with 2 runs and 2 RBIs. Gaeta was just as solid pitching. He pitched 5.1 innings - allowed one run and struck out ve batters.

However, Legacy found timely hits throughout the game. Brandon Sanchez hit an RBI single in the fourth for Legacy’s rst run and senior Derek Olsen had a 2-RBI double in the seventh.

“Coming away with the win in an ugly game like that is big,” Giordano said. “(Prairie View) is a very good baseball team and are well coached. Hope our team can understand that every pitch matters. We made some unforced errors and (Prairie View) was able to take advantage and get runs o of it.”

Legacy improved to 10-2 in FRL and 14-4 overall and has a full schedule of games this week. Tuesday at Loveland, Wednesday against defending state-champion Broomeld and then at Poudre ursday.

Prairie View (12-7 overall, 7-6 FRL) nishes the regular season with two home contests against Monarch Tuesday and Fairview ursday.