Battle Mountain rallied to get within two runs of the Durango High School softball team on Saturday, but the Demons responded with a seven-run, two-out rally in the next inning to pull back ahead and eventually win the game, 25-10.
“Wow, that was a great improvement in one day by Battle Mountain,” said DHS head coach John Bernazzani, referencing Durango’s 23-7 win over BMHS on Friday. “Durango did some great things and really answered back with two-out rallies.”
Battle Mountain jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first, but Durango took the lead in the bottom of the inning. Molly Best walked, and Alaysia Kremer smacked an inside-the-park home run that rolled to the center field fence to tie the game at 2-2. Tehya Barnes followed with a single and gave DHS a 3-2 lead when she scored on a Cori Davis single.
Second baseman Ellie Casias made a diving catch to help keep Battle Mountain from scoring in the top of the second.
The Demons then used walks, singles and sacrifice flies to send 13 hitters to the plate, score nine runs and extend its lead to 12-2 in the bottom of the second.
“They gave up trying to be a hero and just reached base,” Bernazzani said. “I was very impressed.”
Genesis Barrera stole two bags and scored twice while Sophia Maines, Best, Barnes, Davis, Casias, Karina Trujillo and Kristianna Brann also scored in the inning.
In the third, Kremer made a diving catch at short stop and touched second to double up a runner who left on contact. With two outs, however, the Huskies, however, used three two-RBI base hits to cut Durango’s lead to 12-10.
Davis hit a bomb to start the bottom of the third, but Battle Mountain’s center fielder ran it down. After the next Demon struck out, DHS went to work with two outs. Trujillo walked, Brann singled and Barrera got hit by a pitch to load the bases. Maines and Best then hit back-to-back two-RBI singles. After Kremer walked, Barnes hit a two-RBI single and, after Davis got plunked, Casias drove in one with a single to put Durango up, 19-10.
“We came back in that inning and battled,” Bernazzani said.
Durango pitcher Jenna Glueck got three quick outs in the top of the fourth.
In the bottom of the inning, Grace Pargin singled and Best reached on an error. Kremer then hit another bomb to center field. A Husky jumped to try and make the catch, but the ball hit off her glove and rolled to the fence and all three Demons came around to score. Trujillo then hit a two-RBI double to give Durango the walk-off win. “Shout-out to (Karina) on her game-ending hit,” Bernazzani said.
The coach also noted Alexa Bedonie made her first start at catcher, allowing Kremer to play short stop and Barnes to move to third.
“We played good defensively,” he said.
DHS, now 3-8 overall, will next host Montezuma-Cortez (6-0) at 3 p.m. on Tuesday (Sept. 13).
