By Dan Karpiel
The Surveyor

Baseball: Spartans play .500 ball in last four

The Berthoud High School (BHS) baseball team took a respite from Tri-Valley Conference (TVC) play in the last week, competing in the Arvada Tournament April 6 – 9 before coming home to host Lakewood-based Green Mountain High on April 12.

The Spartans split the four games, falling to Greeley Central 13-3 and Sheridan 3-1 before rebounding against Aurora Central with a 22-2 win and repeating the feat at Jack Sommers Field in Berthoud with a 9-8 win over Green Mountain.

Senior catcher Patrick Barron was able to scratch out a pair of Berthoud’s nine hits against Greeley Central, and also drove in a run, but the Spartans had no answer for senior Isaac Vargas whose four-for-four, five RBI day from the plate provided all the runs the Wildcats would need on their way to the 13-3 win. Robert Heiny and Ivan Loma each also drove in three runs for Central.

Tristen Workman, Hunter Pearce, Brent Fowler and Chris DeSousa each tallied hits for Berthoud, but Sheridan was able to work eight walks off DeSousa to get the 3-1 win. A pair of fielding errors and six runners left on base did not help the Spartans cause against Rams pitcher Donovan Contreraz, who struck out 10 Spartans and allowed only a single earned run in a complete game effort on the mound.

After the pair of tough losses, Berthoud rebounded in a big way with a resounding 26-hit, 22-run shellacking of Aurora Central. Seven Spartans – Barron, DeSousa, Josh Archer, Connor Balliet, Brogan Sontag, Jake Yuska and Nick Yuska – all tallied at least two hits with Archer’s four-for-five, three-run, five-RBI performance leading the way. Archer tallied two doubles and two triples along the way, while Jake Yuska also contributed a three-bagger and Sontag a pair of doubles. Sontag also did work on the mound, striking out 11 and allowing only one earned run in five innings of work.

Berthoud was able to win in thrilling fashion against defending 4A state champion Green Mountain on April 12 to get back into positive territory in their season win-loss record. The Spartans rallied from an 8-7 deficit to beat the visiting Rams in walk-off fashion, 8-9.

A sacrifice fly off of Barron’s bat scored Archer in the bottom of the seventh to give the Spartans the win and send the team into the final four series of the season with a winning record. Earlier, Jake Yuska, who entered the game as a pinch-runner, scored on a wild pitch to knot the game at eight-all.

Nick Yuska led the Spartans with three hits on the afternoon while Sontag, Balliet and senior Issac Bracken each contributed two hits and Pearce drove in two and crossed home plate twice in five plate appearances. Pitching in relief, Archer surrendered just a single hit and struck out two in two frames of work on the bump.

Berthoud (6-5, 3-3 conf.) will play four more two-game series against TVC opponents Erie, Mead, Roosevelt and Skyline with the first set of games against Erie on April 14 and at home on April 16.

Girls Soccer: Berthoud fall to Mead, 2-0

After a 10-day layoff, the BHS girls soccer team dropped a conference match in Mead to the Lady Mavericks by a 2-0 final on April 11. Senior goalkeeper Hayley Leatherwood was able to save 12 shots on the evening, but the two that slipped past made the difference in the defensive-heavy game.

Through six games in the 2016 season, the Berthoud offense has run both hot and cold. In the Lady Spartans’ two wins, they have scored six and nine goals, but in four losses Berthoud has been shut out once and held to just a single goal in the other three.

Berthoud (2-4, 0-2 conf.) faces off against Nebraska-based Gering High School on Saturday, April 16, at the Loveland Sports Park. The Lady Spartans will then play a pair of TVC matches, traveling to Broomfield to face Holy Family on April 18 and welcoming Windsor to Max Marr Field on April 20.

Girls tennis: Lady Spartans top Skyline, 5-2

Despite dropping matches in their one and two singles, the BHS girls tennis team was able to get a 5-2 win over Region 4 opponent Skyline on April 11 in Longmont.

After one singles Emily Marty lost to Shelby Roberts 6-2, 6-2 and Abby Nash fell 6-4, 6-4 to Nono Ncube, Berthoud’s three singles player Teagan Ives defeated Skyline’s Brenna White 6-3, 7-5. The winning streak continued in doubles play with Berthoud winning all four matches.

Leah Marty and Skye Kearney got the best of Skyline’s Andrea Rauschmayer and Liza Degtiarova 6-1, 6-3 in one doubles. Berthoud’s Emily Casper and Riley Lundgreen pairing bested Kaylie O’Meara and Powell Kundsvig 6-4, 6-0 in two doubles. Lilli Homeier and Jenna Whitmore took care of the Lady Falcons’ three-doubles pairing of Ally Montano/Savannah Rivera 7-6 (9-7), 6-1 while Delaney Fouts and Natalie Stoesz bested Claudia Blackwell and Luna Van Soest 6-4, 6-4 to take the four doubles victory and give the Lady Spartans the team victory.

As a team Berthoud is 2-2 overall and 1-2 in league matches. The Lady Spartans will host Eaton on April 14 before competing in the Longmont Tournament on April 15 and 16. Region 4 matches with Frederick, Windsor, University, Sterling and Erie also remain in a compressed final two weeks of the regular season.