Holy Family standout Devlin Granberg already has won a state baseball title and most recently a state basketball championship. He is aiming to enjoy his senior season before heading to play baseball at Creighton. The Tigers are again the team to be in Class 3A.
File photo by Derek Regensburger
For
Devlin Granberg, everything this spring will be gravy.
The
Holy Family (Broomfield) senior shortstop was part of a baseball title last season, part of a Tigers' basketball championship last week and has committed to play baseball at Creighton. Not that he'll stop grinding, but all his primary goals have been accomplished as his senior season commences.
"I think the biggest part of this year is just playing with the guys now," Granberg said. "I'm not really going out there to prove anything. We're going out there to win as many games as we can, improve every day, and see what happens this year."
To be clear, this isn't to say Granberg and his teammates don't have their sights set on another title. The top-ranked Tigers have almost everyone back as they deploy a roster that also includes standouts
Zach Trombley,
Zach Dedin,
Austin Brown and others. They have 11 seniors and are the unquestioned team to beat in Class 3A.
Longtime coach Marc Cowell has been replaced by Eric Nakayama, but it has been a smooth transition. Nakayama, or "Nak" as he is most often referred to, was Cowell's assistant for the past decade.
A four-year starter at shortstop but one who projects as an outfielder in college, Granberg is one of the finest hitters ever to grow up in the Holy Family program.
"His sophomore year, you couldn't find many games where he was getting strikeouts or even outs in general," Nakayama said. "He definitely set the tone young with his abilities. . . . He's got power, he's going to hit singles and even has that demeanor when he heads to the plate."
As a sophomore, Granberg batted .608 and had 23 extra-base hits, including five homers. Last season, he batted .440 with four homers and 26 RBIs, then came on to make a rare appearance on the mound as Holy Family ousted Eaton 11-8 in the 3A final.
Just Saturday, Granberg started at forward for the Holy Family basketball team in the 3A championship game. The Tigers nipped Colorado Academy 53-52 for their first hoops title since 1998. CA's Justin Bassey narrowly missed a perimeter shot at the buzzer.
"It's interesting, because in basketball you have a lot of downtime, whole days between the games," Granberg said. "You have a lot of time to think about it, brood over ‘What happens if we win?' or ‘How horrible would it be if we lost?'
"With baseball it was so much different. We were in that fantastic run, only thinking about winning, and the games just kept coming really fast."
The Tigers lost the first game of the baseball double-elimination tournament to La Junta before coming back to win a remarkable five straight.
"Both of them were really special," he said. "Basketball, the ending made it a little more crazy and the fans were going absolutely nuts. But I think the more special one was the baseball just because the manner in which we won."
Granberg, who holds a weighted grade-point averaged above 4.0, has long considered where he'll end up on the Creighton diamond. He believes his speed will be beneficial in the vast outfield at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, the Bluejays' home field.
Until then, he'll continue to hone his craft.
"He brings an all-business type of attitude when it comes to practice and games as well," Nakayama said. "But at practice, he comes in and he knows what work he has to get done and he'll get after it."
His work ethic has rubbed off on his talented teammates, who don't want to appear to be taking shortcuts after watching Granberg's daily routine.
"He holds his teammates accountable," Nakayama said. "He'll push them. He'll drive them. He's a guy who leads by example. He doesn't have a lot of words to say, but when he does talk, it's important what he says."
