Star-telegram Area Softball Rankings

LAKEWOOD — Who says small ball is dead? Cherry Creek used a five-run fourth inning highlighted by three crafty bunts as a catalyst to beat Grandview 11-9 on Friday afternoon at All-Star Park. That propelled the Bruins into the championship against Regis Jesuit, Cherry Creek’s 15th title game appearance under retiring head coach Marc Johnson. “(Small ball) is what broke the game up,” Johnson said.

Beat writer Bennett Durando opens up the Nuggets Mailbag periodically during the season (and now, the offseason). You can submit a Nuggets- or NBA- related question here. Who is the most realistic addition the Nuggets will make this offseason? — Kevin G, Thornton  You and everybody else are wondering, Kevin. Look, if we’re going to cut right to the chase, then I appreciate your use of the word “realistic.” There are countless roster changes that would be fun to imagine, but the Nuggets simply aren’t signing Klay Thompson out of free agency this summer. Even in a hypothetical scenario where Kentavious Caldwell-Pope declines his player option, gets offered four years at $20 million by another team, and the Nuggets elect not to exercise their Bird rights to match that offer, that does not mean they suddenly have that exact amount of money to allocate elsewhere — even if Thompson’s market somehow falls to a $20 million salary.

Drew Gordon, a former NBA player and the older brother of Denver Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon, died in a car crash Thursday in Oregon, multiple people familiar with the situation confirmed to The Denver Post. He was 33. Drew often attended his brother’s games in Denver, where Aaron won an NBA championship in 2023.

I wish I was as thin as Broncos Country’s patience. This came to mind while watching the Broncos practice on Thursday morning. Before the unscripted flyover, before the press conferences, before the injury updates, there was a moment of pause. Former Oregon Duck Bo Nix dropped back during practice and fired a dart to tight end Lucas Krull.

The Broncos will miss running back Audric Estime for a while, but the rookie appears to have avoided serious injury after dropping out of practice a week ago. Estime, the fifth-round draft pick, hurt his knee during May 23’s open practice and was not in attendance this week. Head coach Sean Payton, though, said the hope is he’ll be ready about two months from now when training camp opens. “We went ahead and did a (platelet-rich plasma injection) and a small scope procedure just to make sure everything is clean.

The biggest college football game in Colorado is back in prime time. Thanks, in part, to Coach Prime himself. The CSU Rams and CU Buffs announced Thursday that the rivalry game between the two biggest college football programs in the state will kick at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 14  at Canvas Stadium, and will be televised nationally on CBS. It’s the second straight year for the Showdown after a four-season hiatus, and the second straight year it’ll be played for a prime-time national audience.