Cougar baseball closes season with back to back wins

The Niwot High School baseball team wrapped up the 2025 season on a positive note, securing consecutive victories in their final two games to finish with a 9-14 record. Unfortunately it was not enough as the Cougars ended the season ranked 33rd in Class 4A, one place short of qualifying for state playoffs.

On Monday, May 12, the Cougars dominated their Senior Day home finale against Wheat Ridge High School, cruising to an impressive 11-1 victory. Haden Shaw, who was limited to DH duties due to an injured thumb, led the charge at the plate, finishing 3-for-4. He narrowly missed hitting for the cycle, with a triple to right field in the first inning, a single in the third, and a double in the sixth.

Niwot broke the game open in the fifth inning, exploding for five runs on five hits. Kaige Kennedy delivered a crucial triple that drove in two runs before later scoring on a sacrifice fly. Drew Stapp contributed a run-scoring double, while Braxton Logue added an RBI single. The offensive assault was led by multiple hits from Stapp, Kennedy, and Logue.

The Cougars showed their speed on the basepaths, with Kennedy and the Shaw brothers each stealing multiple bases. Pitcher Jagger Kilpatrick earned the win, throwing 60 pitches with 40 for strikes. Arlo Richards provided effective relief, delivering six strikes in his eight-pitch appearance to close out the game.

The following day, May 13, Niwot traveled to face Silver Creek High School in what proved to be a nail-biter, with the Cougars prevailing 9-8.

Stapp got Niwot on the scoreboard with a single in the second inning. The Cougars extended their lead in the third when Haden Shaw's triple drove in two runs, followed by Charlie Shaw's RBI single giving Niwot the lead at 4-0.

After Silver Creek rallied to tie the game in the bottom of the third, the contest remained deadlocked at 4-4 until the sixth inning. The bases were loaded in the sixth for Kilpatrick who delivered a three-run single and then scored on a passed ball, giving Niwot an 8-4 lead.

Silver Creek scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth to close the gap, with a score of 8-6 going into the seventh inning. The Cougars added one more insurance run to the board in the top of the seventh. Silver Creek did not go away.

After a walk and a hit batter brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the seventh with no outs, Richards took the mound for the Cougars. Richards retired the first two hitters, but both runners scored on sacrifice flies as Niwot clung to a one-run lead with two outs. The next batter hit a hard ground ball that took a crazy hop as it hit second base, but Niwot shortstop Henry Noblin recovered and fired to first, attempting to get the runner. When the wild throw got past Stapp at first, the Silver Creek runner attempted to take second, but the ball rebounded sharply off the concrete dugout, and Stapp's throw to Noblin at second base nailed the runner for the final out of the game for a 9-8 victory.

Kennedy ended with a strong six-inning performance on the mound in relief, allowing five hits and six runs (only one earned) while recording seven strikeouts against just one walk. Richards closed out the game in just seven pitches.

The Cougar offense collected 11 hits, with Stapp leading the charge with a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate. Richards (2-for-2), Kilpatrick (2-for-4), and Charlie Shaw (2-for-3) also contributed multiple hits, with Shaw adding two stolen bases to his impressive stat line.

For the season, the Niwot squad suffered a mid-season 7-game losing streak, but played particularly well in the final week. Victories included wins over Class 4A state playoff teams Severance (ranked 21), Longmont (28), and Silver Creek (18) and a narrow 10-9 loss to third-ranked Lewis-Palmer, but in the end, the Cougars fell just short. Of Niwot's opponents, only Severance (Class 4A) and Broomfield (Class 5A) made the 8-team state tournaments.

Kennedy, Kilpatrick, Stapp, Richards and the Shaw brothers will graduate at the end of May, with Kennedy, Richards, Charlie Shaw and Haden Shaw continuing their baseball careers at the collegiate level.