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Tag: prep softball

  • Colorado Sports Hall of Fame tabs Avalanche star Cale Makar as Pro Athlete of the Year

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    On the fast-track to another Norris Trophy, Cale Makar received another distinction on Tuesday for his body of work in 2025.

    The Colorado Sports Hall of Fame named Makar its Pro Athlete of the Year after the Avalanche star defenseman became only the fourth player in the 21st century to win at least two Norris Trophies. Makar also finished sixth in voting for the Hart Trophy, the NHL MVP, in 2024-25 while leading the league’s defensemen with 30 goals and 92 points.

    In addition to Makar’s selection, the Hall also announced honors for five other individuals on Tuesday who will be recognized alongside the six-member Hall of Fame class at the banquet in April.

    Regis University catcher Adam Paniagua and CSU Pueblo shot putter Katherine Higgins were named College Athletes of the Year, Legend softball/flag football star Lucy Thompson and Montrose running back Elijah Womack are the High School Athletes of the Year, and Ri Armstrong earned the Athlete with Disabilities Award.

    Paniagua hit .448 with 27 homers, 100 RBIs and a .970 slugging percentage, leading Division II in the latter two categories to earn first-team All-American honors. He was a catalyst behind Regis’ program-record 35 victories in 2025. Higgins won the Division II women’s shot put national title.

    Thompson was a two-sport star last fall for Legend, helping the Titans to state runner-up finishes in both softball and flag football. The shortstop is committed to Nebraska, and on the gridiron, she led the state with 1,970 receiving yards while racking up 32 TDs. Womack was also a force, with 2,157 yards rushing and 33 TDs a year after posting a state-best 2,285 rushing yards while helping Montrose to deep playoff runs both seasons.

    Armstrong, who competed in slalom and giant slalom in the Paralympics in 1980 and ’84, has been a volunteer for the National Sports Center for the Disabled for the last 38 years as one of the organization’s most influential instructors.

    Last year, the Hall named a trio of Colorado stars as Pro Athlete of the Year: the Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic (2023-24 NBA MVP), the Broncos’ Pat Surtain II (2024 NFL Defensive Player of the Year) and the Avs’ Nathan MacKinnon (2023-24 NHL MVP).

    The Hall’s 61st annual awards banquet and Hall of Fame induction is April 16 at the Hilton Denver City Center. Tickets are $250 each and sponsor tables start at $3,000.

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    Kyle Newman

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  • University walks-off Eaton for Class 3A softball title in another epic showdown between Patriot League rivals

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    AURORA — With the state championship up for grabs, Emma Zacheis made the grab of her life.

    Then the University junior outfielder scored the winning run.

    Zacheis’ sprawling catch in foul territory in the seventh inning of a 4-4 game ended the top half of the frame at Aurora Sports Park in the Class 3A title game on Saturday, stranding two Eaton runners in the process. Then Zacheis led off the bottom of the inning with an infield single, and, two batters later, scored on Jasi Cole’s walk-off single.

    The sequence gave University a 5-4 victory over rival Eaton, avenging the Bulldogs’ championship losses to the Reds two of the last three seasons for their second title and first since 2019.

    “I knew that if I didn’t catch that one, (Eaton slugger Johanna Galvan) was going to get another opportunity to get some runs in,” Zacheis said. “(My whole career) led up to that catch. Everything I’ve worked towards for years, everything this whole team has worked for, it paid off with that catch.”

    It was Galvan, the junior first baseman, who initially gave Eaton the lead in the first inning with her towering two-run homer down the left field line. So to not give Galvan any more chances to mash — and potentially push the Reds back into the lead in a see-saw game — proved critical.

    Eaton beat University 8-6 in last year’s title game, and 9-1 for the crown in ’22. But the Reds were denied a four-peat on Saturday by the Bulldogs, who beat Eaton for a second time this season following an 8-7, extra-inning victory on Oct. 2 that decided the Patriot League crown.

    “We knew it was going to take everything it took to beat them again,” Zacheis said. “There was a lot of talk (externally) that we couldn’t beat them twice, but we all believed 100% that we had what it takes to win this title.”

    Both teams switched back and forth between pitchers, with the Reds using Galvan and fellow junior Bria Foster, and the Bulldogs alternating Cole and fellow senior Sydney Goetzel.

    University head coach Chris Hutton said it was a strategy she used in the tournament when coaching at Valley 15 years ago, and it produced a similar result as Valley won back-to-back Class 3A titles in 2010 and ’11.

    “It’s unconventional, but I thought it would work today against Eaton’s lineup,” Hutton said. “I was surprised to see Eaton do the same thing.”

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    Kyle Newman

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