Durango High School sports were successful on Tuesday with the baseball team beating Bayfield 15-4 in snowy conditions and the girls soccer squad beat Alamosa 10-0.
The Demons baseball team improved to 5-2 overall with the win while Bayfield fell to 1-5 overall with the loss.
It’s the second game the Demons and Wolverines have played this season. Durango beat Bayfield 22-12 on March 7.
“Tuesday was one of those games that everybody's going to remember forever with the weather and the snow,” Durango baseball head coach Austin Anderson said. “It was just one of those games where you had to find a way to win, find a way to pull it out and that's exactly what we did so I was very proud of them.”
Anderson said the snow was coming down so hard at times that it was almost impossible to catch or field balls that were hit in the outfield by either team. He said the snow really picked up in the middle of the game and then in the last few innings it settled down.
Sophomore Tate Rose led the Demons with three hits and four runs. Sophomore Dylan Burns had the lone home run in the game and two RBIs. Sophomore Austin Romero also had a hit and had three RBIs. Burns and sophomore Landon Padilla and senior Ian Szura had two RBIs each as well.
Romero pitched for three innings and had six strikeouts, allowed two hits and four runs. Szura pitched for two innings and senior Kameron Lucero pitched for an inning as well.
Bayfield senior Dante Candelaria led the Wolverines with two hits, two RBIs and a run scored.
Junior Micah Cornelia pitched for three innings and had one strikeout, gave up a hit and three runs. Junior Austin Wilmer pitched for three innings too and had two strikeouts, allowed four hits and eight runs. Sophomore Tristan Bennett pitched an inning and allowed three hits and four runs.
The game was close in the beginning as the Demons led 4-3 after the first inning and it was 4-4 after the second. But the Demons scored three runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings to take a 13-4 lead after the fifth inning.
Anderson said the players took a little bit of time to adjust to the weather.
“Also, anytime you're playing somebody right next door to you like Durango and Bayfield, all those all those kids know each other,” Anderson said. “They're friends with each other. So it really does take a little extra time to get settled in and understand that this is still a real game and it gets counted.”
Durango hits the road to play Delta on Saturday. Bayfield plays Coal Ridge on Friday.
Girls soccer dominates:
The Demons girls soccer team has steadily progressed in the beginning of the season. After losing their opening game to Cherry Creek 3-0, Durango tied Ralston Valley and the n finally got their first win 10-0 at home against Alamosa Tuesday night.
Durango improved to 1-1-1 overall with the win while Alamosa fell to 1-2 with the loss.
“We did some good combination play in our attacking half which led to pretty high percentage opportunities,” Durango head coach Melissa Halonen said. “Their goalkeeper was actually really good. I thought she made quite a few saves. So for us to score 10 goals I thought she did well, But we combined well to get ourselves into the box and got into good scoring positions and then we finished.”
The Demons scored three goals in the first half and then increased their in the second half and scored seven goals.
Senior Emery Miller had three goals and one assist to lead Durango. Miller had a stress fracture in her foot which kept her out during tryouts and Halonen managed her minutes in the first few games.
“She’s playing the way I know she can play,” Halonen said about Miller. “She combines well, she finishes well, she's got pace and she's very technical. She showed all of that stuff tonight.”
Juniors Bella Saren and Lauren McClellan each had two goals as well for the Demons. Freshman Lila Sherer-Sickler had four assists.
Durango is back in action at home on Friday against Montrose, which has started the season 5-0-1.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
