AURORA ee" Two of Brighton’s youth baseball teams earned state titles at the Triple Crown Sports state tournament in Aurora.

10s Division 2

The 10-year-old Brighton baseball team, headed by Marty Stricklett, finished its season by compiling a 33-17 record, which included a semifinal finish at the Colorado State Championships hosted by Triple Crown Sports.

Brighton posted a 3-1 record in pool play, allowing them to continue in bracket play, where they finished 1-1.

“I am so proud of the way the kids played this year,” Stricklett said. “It was fun to see the growth of this team.

In addition to the success at the Triple Crown tournament, Brighton had two, first-place finishes (Summer Slam Tournament and South Metro Invitational), one, second-place finish, five, third-place finishes and three, fifth-place finishes.

“When fifth place is the worst your team finishes in a tournament, you know you have a well-rounded team,” Stricklett added.

The first game of the Triple Crown tournament saw Brighton beat Pro Swing 17-2. This game was bittersweet, because it was against a team they had lost to in an earlier tournament. It ended being one of the best games of the tournament.

The second game resulted in a 12-8 defeat. But the most exciting game came in the third game July 17. Tied at five, Brighton allowed the Parker Yard Dawgs to score eight runs to take a commanding 13-5 lead.

Not discouraged, Brighton came back to score nine innings in the bottom half of the fifth inning to win.

Brighton also added a 16-9 win against Loveland Chaos to end pool play with a 3-1 record. Its first opponent was a team they had lost to in a previous tournament and wanted to prove they weren’t as good as they were. Brighton would win 9-7, but eventually would fall