The Durango and Montrose softball teams split their doubleheader on Saturday. Montrose won the first game, 8-6, but Durango came out swinging in the second game to score a 13-6 victory.
“The first game was a little rough for us, but the second game was successful because of our attitudes,” said Durango High School’s Sydney Flores.
Even though Durango lost the first game, it mounted a seventh-inning rally, scoring three runs and bringing the tying runner to the plate before falling.
“We finished very strong in the seventh inning and took that momentum into the second game,” said DHS head coach John Bernazzani.
DHS scored six runs in the first inning of the second game, and all of them came with two outs. One highlight of the inning was freshman Maya Trujillo hitting a 2-RBI single.
“At first, I was like, ‘Am I actually going to do this?’ But when I hit them, I got more confident,” Trujillo said. “It was exciting as a freshman to be starting on varsity.”
Montrose scored twice in its half of the inning, but Durango plated three more in the second.
Montrose cut the lead to five with a 2-RBI triple, but Brielle Madrid put DHS back up by seven with a 2-RBI single in the fourth. A couple of infield singles in the sixth helped Montrose score two more runs, but Alaysia Kremer and Teagan Kehm, who hit a double to the fence, scored in the top-of-the-seventh for the final margin.
“I think they sensed the urgency that they had to capture the second game,” Bernazzani said, noting that it was the Southwestern League opener for both teams.
Flores also pitched a complete game for Durango in Game 2, striking out nine while only walking three in seven innings of work.
“I definitely had a lot of confidence,” Flores said. “That was one of the first games I pitched all the way through.”
Meah Mordecai went 3-for-5 at the plate, driving in a run and scoring 2 for Durango. Kehm, Flores, Tehya Barnes and Mia Baguskas all scored twice for Durango, while Trujillo and Madrid had multiple RBIs.
“I think that second game we picked it up and tried our best,” Mordecai said.
“We came out with positivity and came out strong,” Kremer said. “And we had a lot more energy, I feel like.”
Durango also started the first game strong and jumped out to an early lead. Flores and Barnes both doubled and scored to put DHS up, 2-0, in the first.
Montrose, however, responded by scoring six runs in the fourth inning.
Kehm smashed a solo home run over center field for Durango in the fifth to cut Montrose’s lead in half, 6-3. Kehm hit four home runs last season, but that was her first of the season.
“Hitting is all about confidence and hitting a home run really brings my confidence up,” Kehm said.
Montrose, however, added two runs on a bloop single in the sixth to go up by five.
In the bottom of the seventh, Trujillo started the inning with a single and later scored on a Kremer double down the left field line. Kremer scored on an infield single from Flores and then Barnes ripped an RBI double over the left fielder’s head to score Flores. Durango’s rally came up short, but it helped them take some confidence into the second game.
“At the end of the day, we came out playing well, but we could have been better defensively,” Bernazzani said. “I think that was the difference in the first game.”
Durango moved to 3-2 overall after the doubleheader, while Montrose moved to 3-1. Both teams were 1-1 in the 5A/4A Southwestern League.
“They were 2-0 so we can say they’re not undefeated anymore,” Kremer said. “Hopefully, we can play them again to find out who’s better.”
