No lead is safe in high school playoff baseball. Durango High School might know this better than any team in the postseason.
After rallying from a 7-1 first-inning deficit against Lewis-Palmer in the Demons’ regional championship, Durango had an early 5-0 lead against Falcon in the first round of the 4A state playoffs on Friday. The Demons couldn’t hold on and lost 6-5.
No. 2 seed Falcon improved to 20-3-1 overall while No. 7 Durango fell to 15-9 overall.
The Demons scored a run in the first and second innings to take a 2-0 lead into the third inning. Then Durango scored three runs and took a 5-0 lead at the top of the third.
Falcon responded with four runs in the bottom of the third to cut the deficit to 5-4.
Durango couldn’t get anything going on offense the rest of the game as Falcon scored a run in the fifth and sixth to take a 6-5 lead it would never relinquish.
The Demons lost despite outhitting Falcon 11-5. Junior Landin “Bubba” Padilla finished 3-4 at the plate to lead Durango. Juniors Dawson McInnes, Austin Romero and freshman Cole Clark each finished 2-4 at the plate for the Demons.
Junior Sam Clark pitched three innings for Durango and allowed four hits, three runs, walked four batters and threw three strikeouts. Romero pitched 2.2 innings and allowed zero hits, three runs and walked three batters.
The season isn’t over for the Demons; Durango moves to the first round of the consolation bracket to face No. 6 Cheyenne Mountain on Saturday at 9 a.m.
Cheyenne Mountain is 16-8-1 overall after it lost to No. 3 Golden 7-4 in the first round of the state playoffs. The Red-Tailed Hawks lost to Lewis-Palmer twice in the regular season, 16-6 and 16-5, and to Falcon 8-7.
The winner of Cheyenne Mountain vs. Durango will play No. 1 Pueblo County in the second round of the consolation bracket on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. Pueblo County lost to No. 4 Windsor 8-2 in the second round of the state playoffs.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
