For the first time since Barack Obama was president and the iPhone 4S was the newest phone on the market, the Durango High School softball team is playoff-bound.
Durango found out its playoff fate when the Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA) released the 4A regional playoff pods on Monday. Durango made the cut for the first time since 2011 and only the second time in program history.
The Demons moved up in the CHSAA Selection & Seeding Index standings, which mostly decides the playoff seeds, despite not playing its final two games of the regular season at Grand Junction Central because of the weather. Durango received the No. 24 seed in 4A and is heading to Air Academy for the Class 4A Site 8 regional.
“Since I started here three years ago, that's always been our goal is to make playoffs,” Durango head coach Sara Clair said. “Then last year missing it, I think it really hurt and stayed with some of these returners this year. It became even a bigger goal for them. It's been really fun to share that excitement with them and talk about it because it’s a big deal.”
Durango’s opening matchup in the regionals will be against No. 9 Frederick on Friday at 10 a.m. The other part of the Class 4A Site 8 regional is No. 8 Air Academy vs. No. 25 Silver Creek.
Clair loves the matchups with the teams that are in Durango’s regional. She was watching film all of Tuesday and is excited to see what her team’s hitters can do.
Frederick enters regionals with a 16-7 overall record and finished with a 7-4 5A/4A/3A Granite Peaks Softball League record. The Golden Eagles lost their last two games against Erie, but had won their five previous games.
The Golden Eagles have four players with batting averages over 0.400 and three players with 30+ hits. Clair said Frederick has two players that are strong and the rest of the team is smaller and fast. She’s expecting Frederick to try and bunt on Durango.
One advantage Durango has over Frederick is the amount of pitchers. Frederick pitcher Elayna Fisher is the only pitcher who has seen action this season for the Golden Eagles. On the other hand, Durango has senior pitcher Jenna Glueck and sophomore pitcher Abigail Gordon to use. Clair has been impressed with how Gordon has finished the season.
The advantage with two pitchers is if one of them is having a tough today, the other can come in. If Fisher has a tough time against Durango’s hitters, Frederick doesn’t have anyone to turn to with any experience.
After some injuries late in the season, the Demons are nearly 100% healthy. Senior third baseman Alexa Capitan is back after suffering a concussion late in the regular season. Sophomore left fielder Avery Jensen is back and her ankle is about 90-95% healthy, according to Clair.
Clair knows her team needs to work on being clean on defense in practice to give Durango a chance at the upset. If Durango wins, it’ll play the winner of Air Academy vs. Silver Creek for the chance to get into the 4A state playoff bracket.
Air Academy is 15-6-1 overall and finished 4-6 in the 4A Pikes Peak League. The Kadets lost three of their last four regular season games. Silver Creek is 13-10 overall and finished 4-7 in the 5A/4A/3A Granite Peaks Softball League. The Raptors also lost three of their last four regular season games.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
