Calumet drops Sterling 7-1 in tourney title game Errors, base running mistakes costly to Tigers

STERLING – Calumet used two three-run innings to sweep past Sterling 7-1 in the championship matchup of the Arapaho Tournament.

The Tigers made it to the finals with an opening 4-2 win over Arapaho and a 9-4 victory against Navajo.

However, the Aug. 13 title game wasn’t a good day for the Tigers who managed its lone run on nine hits. Calumet tallied three runs in the fourth and three more in the fifth inning to lead 6-1. Calumet scored an insurance run in the seventh to secure the win.

“I thought we pitched well and hit it well in the tournament, but we had five errors in the final game,” Sterling head baseball coach Brett Holmes said.

Holmes also said base running errors and other “little mistakes” cost the Tigers in the championship matchup.

“Once we clean up those mistakes, we’re going to be just fine,” he said. “I thought we built some confidence on the mound, especially with the two younger guys.”

This was Sterling’s third appearance in the Arapaho Tournament finals.

“I’m proud of the way they worked and played,” Holmes said.

In the opener against Arapaho, the two teams played a scoreless game until the seventh inning when Sterling plated four runs, aided by two Arapaho errors. Arapaho made a late rally in the bottom of the seventh with a two-run homer, but that was all the offense the host team could generate.

In the second game, Sterling rallied from a 3-1 deficit scoring eight runs on six hits in the third inning.

Sterling will play in the Fletcher Tournament Aug. 18-20 before returning home to host Sentinel on Aug. 22, Lookeba on Aug. 23 and Fletcher on Aug. 25.