The expanded Front Range League looks a little different this spring, but it’s the same teams who are dominating on the diamond.
Broomfield, the defending Class 5A state champion, is currently the state’s No. 2-ranked team. No. 1 Rocky Mountain – owners of six state titles like the Eagles – and No. 9 Legacy (2022 runner-up) are also showing early promise.
Coming out of last season’s all-Front Range League 5A final, the three schools are the favorites in the new-look league that added four schools this season in Erie, Prairie View, Northglenn and Brighton.
“To finish at or near the top of our league, you’re going to be battle-tested just like a lot of those leagues down south in the suburbs,” Broomfield coach Kale Gilmore said. “Rocky Mountain looks like they’re back to who they usually are; Legacy’s going to be tough again, Fossil Ridge is going to be tough. There’s a lot of good teams, plus we added to the depth of the league with quality programs like Erie and Prairie View.”
Broomfield graduated 15 seniors including the CHSAA classification player of the year, catcher Camden Ross. But the Eagles returned enough talent that they feel good about challenging for another state title.
Senior right-hander/shortstop Noah Scott, junior third baseman Dane Most (Nebraska commit), senior southpaw Jacob Rice and senior first baseman Luke Blackmon highlight Broomfield’s roster, as well as nine sophomores including right-hander Ethan Zufall.
“The expectations are there almost every year, to be in the state tournament and compete for a title,” said Gilmore, a 1990 BHS graduate who is in his second year as head coach. “We knew we had some big pieces back this year, but we just didn’t know how some of these young guys would fit in yet, because we have nine sophomores on our varsity roster. It’s a mix of older guys and younger guys.”
The Eagles started 8-0, including 4-0 at the Lions Invitational tournament in San Diego, and showed they could win in a variety of ways.
“We’ve been doing that California trip for years and normally we go out there and we do take some lumps,” Gilmore said. “This year, we played pretty well the entire time. What I took away from it is that this team can win in a lot of different ways. We can swing it and have a slugfest, and then also win (tight, low-scoring games) because our pitching depth this year is far greater than we’ve had in a long time.”
At Rocky Mountain, which last won a state title in 2017, longtime coach Scott Bullock is also encouraged by his team’s 8-0 start.
Senior shortstop/right-hander Brady Hall (Pima commit), senior second baseman Eliason (Scottsdale commit), senior left fielder Christian Wood and sophomore shortstop/catcher/right-hander Ross Frank are Rocky Mountain’s stars.
“We don’t have any upperclassmen who are Division I kids, but we play solid ball — we throw strikes, we make plays, we compete at the plate,” Bullock said. “We do all the little things pretty well, and that excites me for the type of baseball we could be playing at the end of the year.”
Meanwhile, Legacy (3-3) hasn’t forgotten the bitter end to last season, when the Lightning lost 7-6 to Broomfield in the title game. The game ended on a bang-bang play at first where the baserunner was ruled out, nullifying the tying run coming across the plate. The Lightning graduated star third baseman/pitcher Kieran Gaffney, last year’s catalyst, but Bullock said “their top of the lineup is as good as anybody’s.”
