Baseball: Lyons stuns No. 1 Limon; wins twice to open play at 2A tournament
May 24—The stakes are only getting higher, the end of the spring baseball season now just a week away.
Lyons, meanwhile, is unbothered.
Senior Wyatt Waters threw a gem against top-ranked Limon as the Lions guaranteed themselves a spot in the final weekend of the double-elimination Class 2A baseball tournament, winning both of Friday's opening-round games in Pueblo.
As was the case during last weekend's regional win on the road, their mood was light.
"For us, we changed the focus to, 'Just have fun,'" Lyons coach Kale Olson said. "We realized that we play our best when we're focused on fun. We take the pressure off ourselves and just play the game."
Waters drove in four runs as the 12th-seeded Lions beat No. 13 Swink in five innings in the morning game at Runyon Field Sports Complex. He then turned in a masterful performance hours later, tossing 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball in a 5-1 win over the previously-unbeaten Badgers.
In his 49th career appearance on the mound, he allowed just one run on two hits, taming an offense that averaged nearly 12 runs per game while leading Limon to a 25-0 start to the season.
"Wyatt just stayed composed in a lot of high-pressure moments and this is what he's been working on all four seasons for," Olson said. "Really cool to see."
Waters pitched around five walks during his 112-pitch outing. It jammed him up with two outs in the fifth, when he loaded the bases with two straight free passes on 10 pitches. But he survived it unscathed.
After a mound visit from Olson, Waters got out of a perilous fifth with a strikeout on pitch No. 103. Returning in the sixth, he then fanned his seventh batter of the game before handing off to sophomore Jake LaCrosse, who got the final four outs.
Olson said Lyons (18-7) will start freshman Zack LaCrosse when it faces No. 2 Denver Christian at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Runyon Field. The winner will move on to the sport's final day, June 1, where they'll have two chances to win one game for the state title.
Ten days ago, the Thunder threw a five-inning no-hitter to beat the Lions in their regular-season finale, 12-0. Since then, Lyons has looked to take the pressure away, its coach said. Rallying behind a Hostess honey bun — because why not? — it won the regional tournament at No. 5 Holyoke last weekend to nab its first appearance in 2A's Final 8 since 2017.
Next weekend, it'll have a chance to win its first-ever title in baseball.
