HHS sweeps 2 doubleheaders, qualifies for regional softball

Simply put, the Dragon softball team showed up when it counted. Last week featured the team’s final two doubleheaders of the regular season and determined whether Holyoke would be represented in the regional tournament. And HHS swept both.

On Oct. 8, the Dragons traveled to Burlington where they won 16-3 in four innings and 22-11 in seven. On Oct. 12, Holyoke traveled to Wray and secured two more wins. The first game finished after five innings at 15-4. The second went the full seven innings but was still a blowout at 16-2.

As far as coach Sherman Kage could tell, it really came down to the athletes hitting well and playing good defense. “They were two good fundamental wins for us,” he summarized.

As a result, Holyoke is ranked No. 21 going into regional competition Saturday, Oct. 19, at Riverdale Ridge High School in Thornton. Regional play consists of eight brackets made up of three teams each. HHS is in a bracket with No. 5 Riverdale Ridge and No. 12 Lyons.

On Saturday morning, Holyoke will play Lyons at 10 a.m. The winner of that game will then play Riverdale Ridge at 12:15 p.m. If Riverdale Ridge loses that game, a third game will be played at 2:30 p.m. between Riverdale Ridge and the loser of game one.

Two teams in each regional bracket will qualify for the 2019 Colorado 3A State Softball Tournament field of 16. State will be held Friday-Saturday, Oct. 25-26, in Aurora.

 Lyons is a softball team that Holyoke has seen in years past but not this season. Riverdale Ridge, on the other hand, is a fairly new program, and it’s hard to say what a game with them may look like. Nevertheless, the Dragons aim to keep playing their game and hope to come away with a win.

“I think our team’s ready,” Kage said and added that he hopes to see plenty of fans in Thornton supporting the Dragons.

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