Why would it be any different?
The final out of a long Saturday of high school baseball was recorded at 11:52 p.m., when Air Academy literally outlasted Cherry Creek 9-7 in Class 5A’s championship series at All-City Field.
“It was special. It was nice,” a drained Kadets coach Glenn Millhauser said.
Once again, high-schoolers didn’t blink against yet another day — and night — of brutal Colorado spring weather that has made the final of three seasons in 2007-08 particularly annoying.
Into the final full week of what has been an unsteady schedule of activity for seven sports since early March, keeping busy may not have necessarily worked under trying atmospheric conditions, but in-staters are set for a fitting flurry of a finale that can happen only during spring’s fairly complete barrage of rain, hail, snow, wind and gloom between too few pockets of preferred sunshine and warmth.
Girls tennis decided the first titles of the season the past weekend, but try to keep up — there will be many others in six sports over nine days.
Kids with sticks will get at least a couple of legs up Wednesday, when girls lacrosse will have its championship at Douglas County in Castle Rock. The boys will meet for the semifinals Tuesday at All-City Stadium, then a happy couple of hours Saturday night at Invesco Field at Mile High.
The boys swimming and diving titles are set to splash Thursday through Saturday at the Edora Pool Ice Center in Fort Collins, with classification titles the latter two afternoons.
It will be Super Soccer Saturday at Englewood High School’s Pirate Stadium with two sets of semifinals and a title game over three classes, but the reference also applies to baseball and track and field.
On the diamond, five classes are down to four teams each for three sites (Denver, Greeley and Pueblo) of elimination play on Friday, then championship games on Saturday. For track and field, four classes split between Denver and Pueblo will have more qualifying than finals Friday followed by about a six-hour wave of championships Saturday.
It will last into next week — girls golfers will have two rounds over two days beginning Monday and be joined at the finish line by upper classes of girls soccer Tuesday.
And then, th-th-that’s all, folks.
Colorado’s 87th season will be booked.
Neil H. Devlin: 303-954-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com
LIVESTRONG DAY AT DU
Champion cyclist visiting Denver.
The University of Denver on Tuesday will host seven-time Tour de France champion and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong in one of his four stops during the 2008 LiveStrong Day.
The two-hour cancer awareness event begins at 2 p.m. on the Driscoll Lawn at DU, 2000 E. Asbury Ave. Armstrong is tentatively scheduled to make a presentation at 2:45 p.m. It is free and open to the public.
Other cancer survivors will speak and information pamphlets will be available. For more information, contact Kerrie Rueda at krueda@du.edu or visit www.livestrong.org.
TV GAME OF THE WEEK
Detroit at Dallas, Game 3.
The NHL’s Western Conference finals move to Dallas for tonight’s game. Catch the Red Wings against the Stars at 6 p.m. on Versus.
In the Eastern Conference finals, the all-Pennsylvania series between the Flyers and Penguins continues Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. with Game 3 in Philadelphia, also on Versus.
ROCKIES RETURNING
Coors Field on tap.
The Rockies conclude a six-game trip Thursday and then host nine straight games at Coors Field beginning Friday. The Minnesota Twins will be the first visitors, playing a three-game interleague series this weekend.
INDY 500 HEATING UP
Twenty-two spots up for grabs.
Rain washed out second-day qualifying Sunday, leaving 22 spots available when time trials resume this weekend. The second round is Saturday, with Bump Day on Sunday.
The 92nd running of the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” is May 25.
For legendary actor Paul Newman, longtime co-owner of Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing — a staunch supporter of the Champ Car World Series — this will be the first Indy 500 he has attended in person since 1995, the year before the Indy Racing League was formed and the Indy 500 became an IRL event.
The IRL and Champ Car became a unified series this year.
“It was absolutely necessary for both groups,” Newman, whose team owns the cars driven by former Longmont resident Justin Wilson and Graham Rahal, said of reunification in a team release. “It’s tragic that it didn’t happen sooner, but it’s good that it at least happened when it did. I think it’s going to be a great boost for both groups. It’s good to be back at Indianapolis. It brings back a lot of fond memories. We’ve won eight championships and come in second twice at Indianapolis, but never won the 500. It’s wonderful to be running against Roger (Penske) and (Bobby) Rahal and Michael (Andretti) and all those guys.”
LET’S PLAY HOCKEY
Fun fundraiser at Big Bear.
Organizers of this weekend’s 24 Hours of Hockey at Big Bear Ice Arena hope to raise $50,000 for The Children’s Hospital of Denver. Last year’s inaugural event raised $25,000.
Here’s the deal: Come support the professional and amateur hockey players between 6:30 p.m. Friday and 6:30 p.m. Saturday — they will be on the ice the entire time — and make a tax-deductible donation bid on silent auction items.
The auction includes items from young NHL stars Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin. Donations can also be made online at www.24hoursofhockey.com/donate/.
– Mike Chambers
