AURORA — It looked like Broomfield was on the ropes.
But in the end, it turned out to be rope-a-dope.
The Eagles faced a 7-5 deficit against Legend in the fifth inning of the Class 5A softball championship at Aurora Sports Park on Saturday, only to explode for a dozen runs in the frame for a 17-7 mercy-rule victory.
Seven of those runs came with two outs, with Serenity Molloy’s walk-off RBI single clinching Broomfield’s first state title.
“I always told them if we pitch and we play defense, and if we hit, we’re a really dangerous team,” said Broomfield softball head coach Kale Gilmore, who also led the Eagles baseball team to a state title in 2022. “Turns out, we were a really dangerous team.”
The victory marked a full-circle moment for both Gilmore and Molloy.
Last year, Molloy was the Eagles’ final out in a 9-8 semifinal loss to eventual champion Riverdale Ridge that ended Broomfield’s previously undefeated season. On Saturday, Molloy’s final swing of her softball career — the senior outfielder does not plan to play in college — gave Broomfield jubilation.
Molloy said Broomfield’s lone losses this season, which came to a pair of Nebraska foes on Aug. 30, prepared her and her teammates for the pressure of the state tournament. Broomfield beat Eaglecrest 5-4 in a nine-inning marathon in the semifinal before the rally against Legend earned the Eagles the crown.
“(Those losses) were the humbling that we needed,” Molloy said. “To experience those hard teams where we had to embrace that adversity, that molded us for this moment.”
For Gilmore, the victory was the game paying him and his family back for prior heartbreak.
In the Eagles’ last title game appearance in 2016, Broomfield lost 1-0 in eight innings to Cherokee Trail in a game that saw Gilmore’s daughter, Taylor, throw seven shutout innings before finally allowing a run in the extra frame.
After Saturday’s game, dad and daughter hugged on the diamond amid the celebration, tears in both of their eyes.
“This is redemption, for sure,” Kale Gilmore said.
Broomfield beat Legend 4-0 in the season opener on Aug. 20, and appeared on track to cruise to a win Saturday. Senior first baseman Lilly Smith had an RBI groundout in the first to make it 1-0, then the Providence commit had an RBI double in the third. The Eagles scored three runs in that inning to make it 4-0, and were in total command.
But Legend responded with a six-run fourth inning to swing the momentum. Broomfield starting pitcher Ireland Heer started that frame, was pulled, and then the Iowa commit came back in to record a strikeout for the third out to stop the bleeding.
Broomfield didn’t flinch, however, as the Eagles scratched one back in the bottom of the fourth before their hit parade ended the game in the fifth. The Eagles finished 26-2, while the Titans — making their fourth title game appearance in the last nine years — finished 23-6.
“We have twelve seniors who poured everything they have into this program, and many of them have started for four years,” Gilmore said. “There were innings and moments we didn’t play very well (on Saturday), but we just kept battling and battling. They’re warriors.”
Want more sports news? Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver’s teams.