Fossil Ridge baseball was plenty busy over spring break, as they started and ended the week with their first two games of the season. 

The first game was a tough 9-1 loss against the Cherry Creek Bruins. The Sabercats played even with the Bruins for most of the game, with both teams struggling to get runners on base. That was with the exception of one inning, where Cherry Creek piled on six runs in the third to push the game well out of reach and balloon the final score. 

Yet it wasn’t all negative, sophomore Vedant Sharma looked good in his first appearance of the season with three scoreless innings pitched and three strikeouts. While it was a rough day on the mound for junior Easton Miller, he was the lead bat for Fossil. Miller tallied one of the Sabercats’ two hits to drive in the only run. 

These hitting struggles continued into their second game a week later against Arvada West. Fossil trailed 2-0 heading into the bottom of the fifth as they looked to rally. Sophomore pitcher Brek Benedict kept the Sabercats alive early by only allowing one run in 4.1 innings while striking out nine. 

Then the bats began to roll for Fossil as they rallied for five runs in the bottom of the fifth to go ahead by three. This run was highlighted by sophomore Owen Morgan’s two run single and senior Sam Pease’s solo home run, the first of the season for the Sabercats.

The top of the sixth was a difficult ending, as high amounts of wind caused fielding difficulties for Fossil Ridge and Arvada West rallied for five runs to push ahead 7-5. 

However the Sabercats didn’t panic, as they continued to roll out hits to fight back. With the bases loaded, pinch hitter Charles Colonnello was called upon to play the hero. Colonnello didn’t disappoint, hitting a bases-clearing double to put Fossil Ridge up ahead by one.

“I knew the fastball was coming,” Colonnello said. “Jumped on the first pitch to try and hit it hard, and it worked.”

The Sabercats added three more insurance runs to stretch their lead at 11-7. Sharma once again delivered on the mound by not allowing a run and preventing any chance of a comeback. 

After some early struggles, Fossil Ridge has shown plenty of potential for the remainder of the season.

“The ‘Cats are hot!” Colonnello said.

Fossil will now hit the road as they face Heritage High School on Tuesday, March 21 in the first of five consecutive road games.