Palmer Ridge earns 4A’s No. 2 seed as 11 Pikes Peak teams qualify for regional softball tournament
Postseason softball is here and a bevy of Pikes Peak region teams will compete Friday and Saturday for spots at next week’s state tournament at Aurora Sports Park on Oct. 24-25.
This year, 11 teams qualified for the regional tournament and Palmer Ridge earned 4A’s No. 2 seed after an 19-4 regular season. Six of the 11 area qualifiers come from 4A with Palmer Ridge, Cheyenne Mountain, Air Academy, Widefield, Discovery Canyon and Mesa Ridge all securing one of the 32 slots.
Each class has eight four-team tournaments with two teams from each region advancing to state. The 3A tournament will be single elimination with the regional champion and runner-up clinching state berths.
For 5A and 4A, teams have a double-elimination tournament with the regional champion and consolation bracket winner advancing to state.
Below are a few notes for each class ahead of the regional tournaments.
5A
(Qualifiers: No. 10 Pine Creek, No. 25 Vista Ridge, No. 31 Liberty)
Pine Creek owns the best record of area 5A teams at 19-3 and ended the season on an eight-game winning streak. Should the Eagles win two games at regionals, they’d match their win total from 2023 when they finished 21-6.
The Eagles open their regional tournament against Arapahoe, which Pine Creek defeated 12-2 in the regular season finale last Saturday.
During their winning streak, the Eagles reached double-figure runs in six contests and scored at least seven in all but two matchups this season.
For Vista Ridge, the Wolves open against 17-4 Grand Junction, which grabbed the eight seed and closed the year on a 10-game winning streak. Liberty faces a Cherokee Trail team that has allowed just 52 runs in 22 games and, since Sept. 20, have allowed just 14.
4A
(Qualifiers: No. 2 Palmer Ridge, No. 7 Cheyenne Mountain, No. 8 Air Academy, No. 11 Widefield, No. 28 Discovery Canyon, No. 29 Mesa Ridge)
The six area schools that qualified for the 4A regionals have a combined 93-40 record. For those who don’t know, that’s good.
Widefield had the best overall record of area qualifiers at 21-2, but Palmer Ridge, per Colorado High School Activities Association’s RPI, had the hardest schedule in 4A with an opponent win percentage of .644. Each of the Bears’ losses came against teams that closed the year with 19 or more victories.
Air Academy, which finished 5-18 in 2024, improved to 15-6-1 and nabbed the final regional spot with the eighth seed. Cheyenne Mountain finished with its same win total from last year and went from the No. 16 seed at regionals in 2024 to the No. 7 spot after a 17-5 finish.
Mesa Ridge, after a 7-7-1 start, ended the year 14-7-1 and the Grizzlies scored 12 or more runs in six of their seven contests during their seven-game win streak.
Discovery Canyon had its fewest wins since 2020 and wrapped the year 7-16, but the Thunder played the second-hardest schedule in 4A behind Palmer Ridge, which paved the way to a regional berth.
3A
(Qualifiers: No. 9 The Classical Academy, No. 29 Sand Creek)
The Classical Academy narrowly missed hosting regionals after a 17-6 season. The Titans closed the year with wins in four of their last five games and Ada Wilson finished 97th in the nation with 97 strikeouts.
The Titans open against Rocky Ford, which finished its season 5-18 and dropped five of six to close the year.
Meanwhile, Sand Creek will face Forge Christian’s Fury in the regional opener and hope its end-of-season momentum carries into the postseason. The Scorpions earned five of their eight wins in October while the Fury finished the year 20-3.
Round of 32 schedule
5A
No. 23 Arapahoe vs. No. 10 Pine Creek (at Canyon View Park: Liberty and Thunder Mtn. Fields), TBD
No. 25 Vista Ridge at No. 8 Grand Junction (at Cayon View Park), 10 a.m. Saturday
4A
No. 31 Pueblo East at No. 2 Palmer Ridge, 10 a.m. Friday
No. 29 Mesa Ridge vs. No. 4 Lutheran (at Salisbury Field 4), 10 a.m. Friday
No. 28 Discovery Canyon vs. No. 5 Pueblo Central (at Runyon Sports Complex), TBD
No. 22 Palisade vs. No. 11 Widefield (at Elizabeth High School), TBD
No. 26 Thornton at No. 7 Cheyenne Mountain, TBD
No. 25 Silver Creek at No. 8 Air Academy, TBD
3A
No. 29 Sand Creek at No. 4 Forge Christian, Saturday, time TBD
No. 24 Rocky Ford vs. No. 9 The Classical Academy (at Strasburg High School), 12:15 p.m. Saturday
