Tuesday evening, with the threat of more snow looming over the Denver metro area, I headed out to Ralston Valley High School to cover the varsity baseball game between the Columbine Rebels and the Ralston Valley Mustangs.  Happily, with the sun we have had, the field was no longer muddy and was easy to move around without getting stuck or slipping and falling.

The home team Mustangs jumped on the board first with 1st inning home runs by senior Daniel Skipper and junior Jacob Gallegos after holding Columbine scoreless in the top half of the inning.

Both teams could not cross a runner in the second inning, but Columbine took a 1 run lead in the top of the third inning but Ralston Valley came right back and tied the game up in the bottom half with one run.

In the 4th inning, Columbine added 3 runs to take a 6 to 3 lead over the home team Mustangs and they held Ralston Valley scoreless for the next two innings.

With a 6 to 3 lead going into the 6th inning, it looked like Columbine was going to have no trouble capturing the win, and after the top half of the inning, the Rebels tacked on two more runs, leading by 5 runs going into the bottom half of the frame.

It was going to take a massive offensive attack from Ralston Valley to catch up, but in the bottom of the 6th inning, they put on a scoring blitz, crossing the plate 4 times to come within 1 run of the visiting Columbine team.

In the top of the 7th inning, the Mustangs held Columbine scoreless, keeping their hopes alive to tie or win the game in the bottom half of the last inning.  The Rebels, however, had their own ideas, and kept the Mustangs from getting anyone home and captured the road win, 8-7.

The most impressive player for me was from Ralston Valley.  6 foot 10 inch senior Daniel Skipper.  He had a towering home run in the first inning, and while he gave up some late inning runs when he took the mound to pitch, once he settled in, he was a tough pitcher.  I can only imagine being a batter facing this 6′-10″ hurler.

During the game it started to spit some rain, and the lighting was all over the place.  We had sun, overcast, backlight, side light, a very tough outing exposure-wise, but I made due, and came back with some decent images.

The ball field at Ralston Valley is nice too, with great views of the foothills, and most of Arvada.  A very pretty surrounding, much better than parking lots and roads.

To view and purchase photos from this game, please visit MaxPreps.