The Durango High School baseball team laced up cleats, strapped on batting gloves and dug into the batter’s box at Ricketts Park in Farmington ready to start the 2020 season. It was a beautiful day for a season opener. The Demons now only hope it wasn’t the season finale.
The Demons took the field against Farmington’s Piedra Vista High School shortly after noon Thursday. Moments later, the Colorado High School Activities Association announced all spring sports would be suspended until at least April 6 in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
In light of the spread of coronavirus across the state and country, professional sports organizations also suspended play Wednesday and Thursday, while the NCAA announced it would cancel all winter and spring sports championships, including the college basketball tournaments.
High school athletic associations followed suit, and CHSAA made its announcement Thursday as spring sports teams were getting ready for the first full weekend of competition. CHSAA did leave decisions to play games scheduled for Thursday up to each individual school.
So, DHS played the season opener against one of the top-ranked teams in Class 5A in New Mexico. The Demons raced out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but Durango would fall 4-3 to Piedra Vista.
It was the first game back for head coach Rob Coddington, who returned to the DHS dugout this season for the first time since he resigned after the 2014 season.
“I’ve been sitting around how many years ready to get back doing this thing,” Coddington said. “It’s a crazy deal. Today was outstanding. The grass at Ricketts was as green as could be, the boys came out strong in that first inning and we played really good defense.”
Knowing a ruling might come soon, DHS had made plans to get in a doubleheader Thursday. But, once the CHSAA announcement came out, Durango School District 9-R athletic director Ryan Knorr made the decision for DHS to only play one game.
“If CHSAA is saying it isn’t safe to play Friday, why try to play games Thursday? We decided to just do the one game,” Knorr said.
Coddington said his players handled the news well, and he hopes games will resume after April 6.
“The guys were very disappointed to not get a second game, but it’s out of our control. The kids have good attitudes,” Coddington said. “Hopefully, we will get a chance this season to get back out and put that hard work we’ve had in the offseason to good use. It’s kind of tough to get here opening day and everything gets canceled, and I can only imagine if I was a senior. But, it’s the same for everybody, so you can’t get too upset.”
Cal Walsh had two big doubles for DHS in the game, including one in the first inning. Both were hard hit over the Panther’s center fielder. With DHS down 4-2 in the top of the seventh inning, Walsh hit a double followed by another from Sten Joyner to get within 4-3, but the Demons couldn’t get the fourth run across.
Ellias Fiddler had the other run batted in for Durango on a day in which the Demons had six hits. Runs were scored by Gage and Niko Mestas as well as Walsh.
DHS had only one error behind the pitching effort of Gage Mestas, who took the loss in six innings of work. All four runs he allowed were earned. He walked three, struck out three and allowed five hits.
“It was an amazing feeling playing one of our rivals on a Thursday morning,” Gage Mestas said. “Nothing excites me more than playing a team who is coming after us. Today, the results didn’t go our way, however, we learned a variety of things to get us on track for the next few weeks and upcoming games.”
That is, if there are upcoming games. DHS will not even be able to practice on its high school field. Players can organize on their own and drill elsewhere, though.
“It will be hard to work in reps and game-speed drills, but us players all know what we need to do to start our journey,” Gage Mestas said. “If that means pushups at the house or arm exercises, we all know what we can do to improve and become successful.”
DHS had a strong team this year. Beyond the desire to compete together and chase a regional championship and qualify for state, many of the Demons hope CHSAA will resume play so they can perform and be noticed by college scouts.
“Junior season for most athletes is usually the most crucial year, so having this affect our schedule and the games we play will potentially ruin the opportunities to go places for college,” said Gage Mestas, a junior. “So in my opinion, I want sports to resume as fast as possible so we can all get back to doing what we love.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
