Holyoke no-hits Crowley County to earn state quarterfinal berth

Holyoke High School hosted its first regional tournament in Dragon baseball history on May 20. Seeded No. 5, Holyoke won both games as well as a spot in the 2A state quarterfinals. 

In their quarterfinal game, the Dragons will face the No. 4 Buena Vista Demons at Runyon Complex in Pueblo this Friday, May 26, at 5:30 p.m.

Coach Jimmy French said, “We’re excited for the next challenge. It’s been a great year so far, and we don’t want it to end yet.” 

Heading into the weekend competition, the Dragons have a 15-6 record. In their regional games, they beat Las Animas 12-1 in the first round and Crowley County 11-1 in the second. 

The Demons by comparison are 19-5 so far this season. They beat Clear Creek 1-0 in their first-round game, and in their second, they beat Colorado Springs Christian 7-6.

The winner of the Holyoke, Buena Vista game will go on to play the winner of the No. 3 Denver Christian, No.11 Del Norte game in the semifinals on Saturday, May 27, at 10 a.m. 

On the other side of the bracket, No. 1 Limon will play No. 9 Burlington and No. 2 Peyton will play No. 10 St. Mary’s. 

The championship game will be played at CSU-Pueblo Rawlins Field on Saturday, June 3, at 11 a.m.

Holyoke 12, Las Animas 1

Saturday started off with a contest between Holyoke and the Las Animas Trojans, who were seeded No. 28. The game, which French called a “great team win,” ended in five innings, with Holyoke ahead 12-1. 

“I’m just really proud of everyone who stepped up in that game. We had a lot of big contributions from people who don’t get the chance to show their skills as often,” French said. “I think it really just shows the hard work the whole team’s been putting in all year.”

Right away, the Dragons set about putting the Trojans away. Las Animas took the field having scored no runs. Holyoke then went on to score five runs by the end of the first inning. 

For the next three innings, the Trojans tried and failed to get on the board. The Dragons, on the other hand, scored one in the second and six in the third. Going into the fifth inning, Las Animas trailed 12-0. Finally the Trojans managed to score one run. The game ended 5-1 after five innings due to the mercy rule. 

At bat, Irving Dominguez hit two doubles, Caiden Krueger hit a double and a single, Cody Maloney, Carter Van Overbeke, and Ty Dirks each hit a double, and Wyatt Sprague, Tyson Mosenteen, Caden Sporhase, and Angel Carrasco hit one single apiece. 

Mosenteen stole three bases, Wyatt Sprague stole two, and Jerron Hunter stole one.

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