The Frederick Warriors needed extra innings and rally caps to overcome a low seed to advance to the Class 4A state softball semifinals. Meanwhile, top-seeded Wheat Ridge cruised, but left room for improvement.

The first day of action featured as many upsets, including Windsor's 18-0 shellacking of Falcon in the first round, as it did games that went down to the nail-biting end.

Frederick, seeded 14th, rallied past third-seeded D'Evelyn 11-7 in the first game before Dominique Garcia stunned Mullen with a walk-off RBI double in the ninth inning of the second game.

Garcia's big swing could not have come at a better time - right after Mullen took the lead in the top of the ninth.

"(Gia Marquez) was throwing me outside all day, and I was chasing after her. Before I went up for that last at-bat coach (Roger Dufour) told me to hug the plate. She threw an outside pitch again and I just went after it," Garcia said after the 5-4 victory.

Equally as stunning, Mountain View outlasted Lewis-Palmer 3-2 in extra innings in the first round before settling into a pitcher's duel with second-seeded Northridge.

Neither side budged until Jasmine Grentz connected for a base hit in the ninth inning to plate Ashlee Dennis from second base for a 1-0 victory for Mountain View.

"We just wanted to make it a good game, but winning it was way better," Grentz said. "We do better under pressure."

Despite staring straight into the teeth of Northridge ace Kendall Kautz, who struck out 15, Grentz waited for the one-out offering to drift inside before swinging away.

"I just remember saying, 'This is it.' I just let the pitch come in and did the best that I could," Grentz said.

The Mustangs loaded the bases in the seventh inning with none out, but a wild triple play that touched the glove of seven Frederick defenders ended the threat to preserve Grentz's heroics.

Also, the Windsor Wizards, state champions in 2006, breezed past fifth-seeded Falcon in the first round and overcame a scrappy Castle View team in the second game. Tied 2-2 going into the sixth inning, Windsor broke open the game against Castle View with two runs in the sixth inning and three more in the ninth.

Chelsea O'Connor connected for two hits and scored three runs, and Megan Wilkinson went 3-for-4 at the plate.

"The score didn't matter to us. We just wanted to play as hard as we could," Wilkinson said of Windsor's 7-3 victory in the second game. "We are really optimistic. We blew them out in the first game and played well in the second. This is the best time to peak, and this is the best we have played all season."

First-year Wheat Ridge coach Marty Stricklett wasn't about to give his team a passing grade, despite two fairly easy victories.

The Farmers dominated 5A as much as any other team this decade, and they entered their first season in 4A as the heavy favorite. After cruising to a 10-0 victory against Delta in the first round, Wheat Ridge blasted three home runs in the second inning of a 7-2 victory against Con ifer in the quarterfinals.

Still, Stricklett said he needs to see better play from his team.

"We did not play well," he said. "We will need to come back stronger (today) if we are going to get where we want to be."

Said Miranda Wilkinson, who hit a solo homer for the Farmers: "The state championship is definitely our top priority. It's not our only goal, but it is our highest goal."

Farmers pitcher Stephanie Routzon struck out 24 batters in the two games.