All it takes is an inning in baseball for the game to change, and the game didn’t change in Durango High School’s favor in a 10-6 loss in the first round of the 4A state playoff on Friday.
The No. 2-seeded Demons looked like they were on for another strong defensive showing when they were up 3-1 after four innings. Durango was its opportunistic self, scoring on No. 7 Holy Family mistakes. However, everything changed in the fifth inning.
Holy Family seemed like it knew exactly where Durango sophomore Cole Clark’s pitches were going in the top of the fifth. Durango’s usually stellar defense missed throws and grounders by inches that were the difference between outs and runs. The Tigers loaded the bases twice en route to a 7-3 lead going into the bottom of the fifth.
Durango couldn’t recapture the momentum, and Holy Family cruised to its eighth consecutive victory. The state journey isn’t over yet for Durango as it will go into the consolation bracket with a chance to still win the state title game.
The Demons dropped to 18-8 overall with the loss. Durango was outhit 15-8 by Holy Family. Junior Coen Anderson led the Demons at bat, going 2-3. On the mound, Clark pitched just over four innings, allowing nine hits and seven runs with one strikeout. Senior Austin Romero pitched two innings, allowing six hits and three runs, and senior Cooper Mitchell pitched less than an inning with two strikeouts.
Holy Family improved to 18-19 overall with the win. Junior Logan Manley led the Tigers at the plate, going 3-4. Four Tigers had two hits. Sophomore Kaden Hopkin pitched over six innings for Holy Family, finishing with seven strikeouts, four hits and five runs allowed.
A run in the top of the first gave Holy Family an early lead. Durango got two runners on base in the bottom of the second, and Anderson got home to tie the game after junior catcher Duncan Walsh hit one to second base.
Durango took its first lead of the game with two runs at the bottom of the third. Romero hit a nice single past the second baseman to get the inning started, and senior Brady Hoerl was walked. Walsh successfully played the sacrifice bunt to get his players to second and third with only one out. Clark missed another bunt attempt, but the ball went off the catcher, and Romero stole home for the 2-1 lead. Clark struck out, and while Anderson was at bat, a balk was called on Hopkin, allowing Hoerl to come home for the 3-1 lead, which Durango took into the top of the fifth.
The Tigers started the top of the fifth with two hard-driven singles with zero outs. Another Tigers’ hit that was mishandled by senior Landin “Bubba” Padilla resulted in a dreadful scenario for the Durango defense: bases loaded and zero outs.
Another grounder went right to Padilla, but his throw was slightly mishandled by Walsh at home plate, and the first Holy Family runner scored. Another hit came through right past Clark and up the middle for two more runs with zero outs. Durango’s outfield struggles continued. Junior Grady Feeney caught a ball deep in the outfield, but the Holy Family runner tagged up at third and came home for the 5-3 lead. Durango couldn’t handle Feeney’s throw, allowing a Holy Family runner to come into third.
The hits kept coming with a lefty smash down the first baseline to bring another runner home with only one out. Demons head coach Masen Hibbeler made the call to retire Clark and bring in Romero. Romero walked his first batter and allowed another hit to load the bases. A hard-hit single into left field brought another runner home for a 7-3 lead. A double play ended the costly top of the fifth.
Up 7-3, Holy Family’s first three batters hit singles to load the bases at the top of the seventh with zero outs. After an out at home, a Tiger smashed one down the third baseline for two runs to score for the 9-3 lead. Romero was retired for Mitchell, whose only mistake was a pitch thrown into the dirt, allowing a Holy Family runner to score. Mitchell struck out two batters to end the inning, down 10-3.
The Demons had a monumental task of coming back from down seven at the bottom of the seventh. Durango was helped with two walks to start. Padilla cranked one into right-center field for the double to bring both Demons home. Anderson hit a single to get Padilla to third. Padilla got home on a pop fly that was the second out, and Durango got two runners on base, but couldn’t keep the comeback alive with the third out to end the game.
Holy Family advanced to play Falcon later in the day and lost 2-1. Durango will face No. 6 Canon City on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. in the first round of the consolation bracket. The Tigers are 22-4 overall. The winner of Durango vs. Canon City will face No. 1 Palisade at noon on Saturday. The Bulldogs lost to Pueblo County in the second round, 6-1.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
