Demons softball season comes to a close

Team misses playoffs, finishes 4-19

Thursday, Oct 13, 2022 6:33 PM Updated Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022 6:51 PM

Team misses playoffs, finishes 4-19

Tehya Barnes of Durango High School makes an over-the-shoulder catch at shortstop on Saturday while playing Rifle High School. (Jerry McBride/Durango Herald)

The Durango High School softball team’s season ended Saturday with a pair of losses against Rifle, 7-2 and 11-5.

When the brackets for the Class 4A regional tournaments were released Monday, the Demons weren’t selected for the 32-team field.

The Demons made some noise with their bats this season and had four players finish with a batting average above .400. As a team, DHS batted .350.

Senior Alaysia Kremer led teammates with a .515 batting average, and .590 on-base percentage. Kremer also hit six home runs, 13 doubles and three triples while scoring 29 runs and driving in 34.

Freshman Cori Davis had the second-highest batting average at .471, getting hits in 24 of 51 at-bats. Davis also hit nine doubles, had 20 RBIs and scored 11 runs.

Senior Tehya Barnes led the team with 32 RBIs, batting .456 on the year. Barnes smacked three home runs, 13 doubles and scored 19 runs for DHS.

Sophomore Ellie Casias finished with a .424 batting average, scoring 18 runs and driving in 11. She also stole eight bases.

Junior Kelly Arthur got 18 base hits and scored 15 runs for DHS.

Sophomore Molly Best hit .357, getting 20 base hits, walking 11 times and scoring 14 runs.

Junior Grace Pargin hit .378, scoring nine runs and driving in eight.

Sophomore Karina Trujillo hit .300 for DHS.

Cori Davis of Durango High School dives for a fly ball in the infield Saturday while playing Rifle High School. (Jerry McBride/Durango Herald)

The Demons, however, committed 67 errors and finished with an .841 fielding percentage. Out of the 296 runs DHS gave up, 180 were earned. Best made just two errors and had the best fielding percentage on the team (. 931) among players with at least 10 chances.

Kremer, meanwhile, had 74 putouts to lead DHS, and Barnes had 69.

Pitching, DHS finished with a 10.96 team ERA. Freshman Jenna Glueck struck out 25 batters, Arthur struck out 21, and Grace Pargin struck out 11 while walking a team-low 26.

Durango, which also lost to Fruita Monument 13-7 and 18-5 on Friday, finished its season 4-19 overall and 1-7 in the 5A/4A Southwestern League. Fruita went 8-0 in the SWL, and 14-9 overall, to win the league title. No SWL teams made the 4A tournament. In Class 5A, Grand Junction Central (16-7, 6-2) got the No. 13 seed, and Fruita was awarded the No. 19 seed.

Cori Davis of Durango High School tries to make a catch next to the dugout on Saturday while playing Rifle High School. (Jerry McBride/Durango Herald)