The Durango High School softball team hit the ball hard against Palisade on Friday. Unfortunately for the Demons, most of their hardest hits ended up in Palisade gloves.
“I was very satisfied with our hitting today,” said DHS head coach John Bernazzani. “We had a lot of hard hit balls get caught. Everything Palisade hit found a gap, and everything we hit was straight to leather.”
Palisade ended up winning Game 1, 17-3, and Game 2, 13-1.
Game 1 of the doubleheader was tight early. Palisade got two doubles and scored three in the top of the first.
In the bottom of the inning, Ellie Casias singled and then Alaysia Kremer walked. With two outs, Molly Best hit a ball into shallow right field that looked like it might drop, but Palisade’s second baseman was able to chase it down to keep Durango from scoring.
DHS pitcher Grace Pargin got Palisade to go three up, three down in the second. “Grace did a great job in the circle and had two shutdown innings,” the coach said.
The Demons got two more runners on base in the bottom of the second, but the inning ended after a pair of hard-hit fly balls were caught.
Palisade blew the game open in the third inning. Pargin retired two of the first three hitters she faced, but an infield single and a throwing error allowed Palisade to rally with seven runs.
Durango had its best answer in the bottom of the fourth inning. Karina Trujillo and Pargin both put the ball in play and reached base. Kristianna Brann then smacked the ball and Trujillo ran home from third, but Trujillo was tagged out at home. With two outs and two on, however, Alexa Bedonie came up to the plate and hit a 2-RBI double over Palisade’s outfielders.
“That was a big hit from Alexa,” Benazzani said.
Kelly Arthur then drove home Bedonie to cut Palisade’s lead to 12-3.
In the fifth inning, Palisade extended its lead to 17-3 with a trio of doubles.
Alaysia Kremer hit a bomb to the warning track in center field to start the fifth for DHS, but it was caught. The game ended when Best hit a hard line drive right at the center fielder.
The Demons, now 4-13, 1-3 5A/4A Southwestern, will be back in action today for another doubleheader. DHS will host Grand Junction Central (14-6, 4-1) at 10 a.m. and noon. DHS will then host Fruita Monument (10-9, 4-0) at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Thursday for its homecoming games.
