The Durango High School softball team has a new head coach this year, but she has worked with many of the Demons over the years.
Sara Clair is now leading DHS, but she coached several of the team’s players in youth ball, including some as young as 5 years old with the Durango Danger. Clair also previously coached at both DHS and Fort Lewis College.
“It’s like coming full circle for me coming back to the high school,” she said, noting that she helped build the team’s feeder program, the Danger, in her time away from DHS.
Clair grew up in Ohio and was a Division I pitcher for the University of Dayton. She worked as an assistant softball coach in Columbus before moving to Durango about 20 years ago and staying involved with the sport here.
She previously coached at DHS for five years, with former head coach John Bernazzani, and was on staff the year the Demons qualified for the state playoffs. Clair also worked as a pitching coach for Fort Lewis College. She then stepped away to help start the Durango Danger youth softball program and give kids their first outlet to play softball in the area. The Danger later merged with local baseball league, becoming Durango Baseball and Softball and she has been the organization’s president for the last five years.
Now she’ll be steering DHS as well.
“I really enjoyed working with this age group, taking the student athletes and helping them not only with the sport, but also helping mold them to what they’ll be after high school,” Clair said.
To prepare for the season, the team practiced two days a week over the summer and also competed as an 18U team in Farmington’s league.
“We worked on developing pitchers and building a solid foundation of mechanics,” she said.
Several Demons also return with varsity experience. The team has two seniors who attend Ignacio High School and compete for DHS: Kelly Arther and Grace Pargin. Both of those players will pitch, and so will Jenna Glueck. Karina Trujillo, meanwhile, has stepped up as a new catcher for the team.
Molly Best, Ellie Casias, Sophia Barnett and Cori Davis also return with varsity experience. Davis had a strong season last year as a freshman and the coach said she’s even more solid now.
The team’s offseason work and experience will be key early on this year: Durango starts its season at home Tuesday against Alamosa. The varsity game is scheduled for 1 p.m. at DHS. Depending on construction at the school, however, spectators might need to park at Needham Elementary School and walk over. The contest could also be moved to FLC as a last resort.
DHS will then play thee more home games before traveling to the Front Range for the Ponderosa Tournament, beginning Aug. 25. DHS will play three Class 5A teams and a pair of fellow 4A squads there.
“If you’re not winning, you’re learning. That’s what I tell the girls,” Clair said. “That tournament will be a good gauge to see where we’re at and it help us in the long run for conference play.”
DHS also has home games scheduled for Aug. 19 against Montrose, Aug. 22 versus Montezuma-Cortez, Sept. 2 against Grand Junction and Sept. 15 with Delta.
After going 4-19 overall last year, the team’s bats will be important this year.
“For us, it will come down to offense,” Clair said. “I’ll bat my best nine hitters, because for us it will be about putting runs on the board.”
To help prepare the players at the plate, the former DI pitcher has been throwing to the girls and giving them a lot of live reps.
With the team’s pitchers, meanwhile, she said she’s trying not to overcomplicate things and let them rely on their defense.
“With the pitchers, it’s more strategy,” she said. “Keep the batters off balance with off-speed.”
The team has bought in and put a lot of time in. Now they get to play.
“I’m excited about the direction the program is going,” Clair said. “I’m really excited for the girls. It’s such a good group and they have really put the work in this summer.”
