Hi again and welcome to what is a truly rare sight in Colorado this spring – the sight of a prep sporting event outside.

    Snowstorms are common in the Rockies, of course. But often there’s a break between systems to let high school teams play some games. The spring season isn’t that long to start with. Add in snowouts, and teams often wind up in full scramble mode to play the games before graduation season begins in mid-May.

    BHS started its season later than most teams – March 18. But like most everyone else, BHS has two games to make up after spring break. Coach Bill Bainbridge notes that the month of April would include some four-game weeks, not to mention what the schedulers come up with for make-up games.

    One of those games against Dakota Ridge was rescheduled for 4 p.m., April 12, at Dakota Ridge.

    But all of that doesn’t matter to Bainbridge or the Bulldogs. Today, the wind is blowing north to south – out to left-center field. The sun is ducking in and out of the clouds. It’s not perfect. But for this spring, it might as well be.

    Horizon High School, with a mark of 0-6, made the short drive from Thornton for the March 31 non-league contest. Brighton is 0-2.

    As TV game-show host Regis Philbin might say, “Let’s play.”

• • •

    Art Stephens is on the mound for Brighton. He didn’t have a lot of success two weeks ago, and this game starts out much the same way. To be fair, Stephens could sue his team for non-support. A couple of errors allow the Hawks to score a run in the first inning.

    “Brighton bounces back for three runs in its half of the first, most of which may have been set up by a missed sign. That, like the absence of warmer weather, doesn’t matter to the Bulldogs. They are happy to start a game with a lead.

    Zach Nance pounds a double off the center-field fence for a run. Bubba Torres hits a 21-hopper through the hole at short for another run.

• • •

    Stephens settles in through the second, third and fourth frames. The Hawks get some base runners but don’t score any runs. In the second inning, they run themselves into two of the three outs on the base paths.

    Nance singles to right-center field in the second inning for a run. Torres leads off the third with a home run. And Brighton is sitting pretty with a 5-1 lead after three innings.

• • •

    In the dugout, Bainbridge divides his time between the on-field business, helping the managers keep the scorecard, telling a reporter, ‘I’m a nervous wreck,’ and a discussion about how easy it is to tip Horizon’s pitches.

    “I always wanted to react to the pitches,” the coach said. “Some (first-base) coaches step outside the coach’s box and look right down the line. Others will flash a sign (an open or closed hand).”

    Meantime, BHS  infielder Danny Martinez steps into the box in the last of the fourth and gets hit by an off-speed pitch. One of the axioms of the game is players can’t rub the spot where the ball makes contact with flesh. Martinez doesn’t. The pitch was slow enough it wouldn’t have hurt anyway.

• • •

    Stephens runs into trouble in the fifth inning. A double, an infield hit and a hit batter don’t make for a good start. A fielding error brings home another run, and a throwing error brings home another. What was a comfortable lead isn’t any more. And it turns out to be a sign of things to come. The Hawks tie the game in the seventh and push over a run in the ninth to win it.

    The final totals are, for Horizon, six runs, 10 hits and no errors. Brighton had five runs, a season-high 12 hits and two miscues.