The Durango girls softball team hung with Fruita Monument for most of Friday’s doubleheader. The Wildcats, however, pulled away late in both games to beat the Demons 15-5 and 12-1.

DHS head coach John Bernazzani said the scores didn’t reflect how well DHS played.

“The girls rose to a new level of competition today,” he said. “It’s just amazing how they played.”

In the first game, Alaysia Kremer led the charge for Durango, going 3-for-3 at the plate with a home run, a double and two runs scored.

“She really sparked the offense,” Bernazzani said.

Tehya Barnes also had 2 RBIs in the game and scored a run. Teagan Kehm and Sydney Flores scored the Durango’s other 2 runs. Durango left eight runners on base in the game.

Fruita, meanwhile, scored 8 runs in the first two innings. Durango scored 4 in the third and 1 in the fourth to cut the lead to 8-5.

Fruita, however, came back and answered with seven runs in the bottom of the fourth and kept DHS from scoring in the fifth to win the game.

Rain also drizzled from the third inning on, but it let up enough for the teams to get the games in.

“We played in some cold, rainy conditions,” Bernazzani said.

In the second game, Fruita led 2-0 after four innings.

“Sydney did a really great job (pitching) for the first four innings,” Bernazzani said.

In the fifth and sixth innings, however, the Widcats scored 5 runs apiece.

DHS answered with Kehm doubling and Flores knocking her in.

Kremer, Sophia Barnett and Macy Moore also had base hits in the loss, but DHS wasn’t able to score any more.

The Demons (13-9, 3-5 5A/4A Southwestern) will conclude their regular season today at Palisade (13-9, 4-0 4A Western Slope).

Durango enters the game ranked No. 31 in the Ratings Percentage Index while Palisade was No. 28.

The top 32 teams will make the state playoffs, so a win would be huge for both squads.