University walks-off Eaton for Class 3A softball title in another epic showdown between Patriot League rivals

AURORA With the state championship up for grabs Emma Zacheis made the grab of her life Then the University junior outfielder scored the winning run Zacheis sprawling catch in foul territory in the seventh inning of a - contest ended the top half of the frame at Aurora Sports Park in the Class A title contest on Saturday stranding two Eaton runners in the process Then Zacheis led off the bottom of the inning with an infield single and two batters later scored on Jasi Cole s walk-off single The sequence gave University a - accomplishment over rival Eaton avenging the Bulldogs championship losses to the Reds two of the last three seasons for their second title and first since I knew that if I didn t catch that one Eaton slugger Johanna Galvan was going to get another opportunity to get various runs in Zacheis revealed My whole career led up to that catch Everything I ve worked towards for years everything this whole club has worked for it paid off with that catch It was Galvan the junior first baseman who initially gave Eaton the lead in the first inning with her towering two-run homer down the left field line So to not give Galvan any more chances to mash and potentially push the Reds back into the lead in a see-saw challenge proved critical Eaton beat University - in last year s title meeting and - for the crown in But the Reds were denied a four-peat on Saturday by the Bulldogs who beat Eaton for a second time this season following an - extra-inning triumph on Oct that decided the Patriot League crown We knew it was going to take everything it took to beat them again Zacheis commented There was a lot of talk externally that we couldn t beat them twice but we all maintained that we had what it takes to win this title Both teams switched back and forth between pitchers with the Reds using Galvan and fellow junior Bria Foster and the Bulldogs alternating Cole and fellow senior Sydney Goetzel University head coach Chris Hutton stated it was a strategy she used in the tournament when coaching at Valley years ago and it produced a similar aftermath as Valley won back-to-back Class A titles in and It s unconventional but I thought it would work nowadays against Eaton s lineup Hutton revealed I was surprised to see Eaton do the same thing Related Articles Colorado high school football How Post Preps Top teams fared in Week Legend dynamic duo Madi Smolen Lucy Thompson lead Titans to A flag football final Colorado high school football scoreboard Week With championships in her bloodline Columbine shortstop Liv Keiter leads Rebels into Class A state tournament Colorado high school football games to watch in Week Down - after the first couple of innings University plated three runs in the third including a sacrifice fly by Cole for the Bulldogs first lead at - Eaton swung the momentum and lead back its way in the sixth via Paige Hofer s sacrifice fly and Rayelle Navarro s RBI single But University threw the final haymakers first by tying the championship on Kendall Dietz s RBI groundout in the sixth prior to Cole s game-winning swing in the seventh Zacheis got us all hyped up and she gave us back our power for the bottom of that final inning Cole noted My thought in that final at-bat was just to keep it simple Bria is an amazing pitcher I have nothing but respect for the Eaton girls Both teams we inevitably bring our best competition against each other and that s what happened again in the modern day University finished - with both of its losses coming to Class A opponents Eaton finished - Want more sports news Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver s teams