BROOMFIELD >> Holy Family relief pitcher Dutch Van Dale couldn’t wait for the final out Saturday.

In fact, he was hollering in celebration as soon as second baseman Isaiah Sandoval got his glove on the ground ball he’d then throw to first for the final out of the Tigers’ Class 4A Region 5 championship. He calls it trust.

“I have faith and full confidence in my teammates,” said Van Dale, who closed out wins against No. 28 Skyline and No. 21 Pueblo Central at Holy Family’s four-team regional. The fifth-ranked Tigers are now into the eight-team, double-elimination 4A state tournament, which starts next weekend. “If you know they’re going to make the play, they’re going to make the play.”

It’s a level of trust that’s reciprocated by the Tigers. Especially with the game on the line.

“My teammates, coaches, they all think I’m psycho,” he explained. “And it’s a good (kind of) psycho.”

Brimming with adrenaline, the first-year varsity player tossed 2 1/3 spotless innings to close out a 5-1 win over the Falcons, then a perfect seventh to hold off the Wildcats, 7-6.

“Dutch has gotten us out of tight situations over and over,” Holy Family coach Marc Cowell said. “He’s the first guy I call, ‘Go get warmed up. I know you’ll shut this game down for us.’”

The Wildcats rallied from five runs down to get within one before Van Dale put a halt to it. Keeping hitters off-balance, his five-pitch arsenal — headlined by a fastball he said he just tries to throw as hard as possible — got a strikeout and successive groundouts for his eighth scoreless stint in 10 appearances on the mound this season.

His ERA is a miniscule 1.68 over 16 2/3 frames.

“I thrive under pressure. That’s when I’m at my best,” Van Dale said. “I want to get the win. I’m so motivated to get the win. Closing games, it’s my favorite thing to do.”

Van Dale’s finishing touches aided wins from Game 1 and 2 starters Cole Kuszak and Brady Hudson.

In the morning game against Skyline (12-12), Xavier Vega homered to support Kuszak, who allowed one run in 4 2/3 innings, striking out five. His lone blemish came when opposing pitcher Grayson Gomez doubled in the fifth, driving in Skyline’s only run. The Falcons had qualified for regionals for the first time since 2014.

After Pueblo Central beat No. 12 Green Mountain in the next game, Rylan Cooney’s three RBIs and Kolbe Mills’ first home run of the season gave the Tigers a 7-2 lead after four innings in the finale. Hudson then struggled in the fifth, allowing four runs, one by way of a balk. But the senior responded, pitching a clean sixth before giving the ball to their trusted closer.

“You got to grind,” Cowell said. “When you get to the postseason, there’s not going to be any easy outs or easy innings. Sometimes you’re going to run into an inning like (the fifth in Game 2), and we have to find a way to battle through it and then come back and respond the next inning. I thought our guys did that great today.”

Holy Family (18-5-1) was the lone team from the Boulder, Broomfield and Longmont area to host a four-team regional this weekend.

Lyons, ranked 12th in 2A, was the only other of the 14 local postseason teams to advance.