BROOMFIELD — The growing pains were inevitable, especially after graduating eight starters and nine seniors. The Evergreen Cougars’ softball team knew this.
Saturday’s 13-1 loss to Ralston Valley at Broomfield High School in the 5A vs. 4A Challenge Tournament was evidence. The Mustangs connected for four home runs and 14 hits. The game was called after four innings due to the mercy rule.
“It was going to be growing (pains),” junior shortstop Jackie Donoho said. “We don’t have one senior this year, so we’ve got two years together. We’ll be working hard this year with the hopes of having a good year next year and a good end of the season (this year).”
Ralston Valley scored in every inning, including back-to-back homers from Makena Geist and Laney Clark in the second inning that chased Evergreen freshman starter Logan Gaber. The Eagles’ Jaiden Geist and Jordan West hit solo homers off reliever Sidney Phillips, who gave way to fellow sophomore Dillyn Collins in the fourth inning.
“They’re learning, making adjustments every single game,” Evergreen head coach Heather Dose said. “The score doesn’t tell the whole story. They continue to work hard every day.”
And that’s why Dose favors the stringent early-season schedule. Four of Evergreen’s first five games — the Cougars later lost 12-4 to host Broomfield on Saturday afternoon — have come against 5A competition. EHS has been outscored 68-11 in those five contests.
“My approach every season is to have them be ready for conference. That is what matters,” Dose said. “We’re going to play good teams in the preseason, so to speak, preconference every year. The whole purpose is to get the kids ready to see that good competition and to be able to make adjustments against good teams and be ready to play when we get into a very tough 4A conference in Jeffco. If we don’t play good competition, we’re not conference-ready.”
Call it tough love.
The Cougars got a runner on in each of the first three innings, breaking through for their only run in the third when sophomore Taylor Lozowick singled home Kylie Lynch with two outs. Evergreen finished with three hits total with the other — another single — coming from Collins in the second inning.
“We’ve got to start stringing (hits) together,” Dose said. “We’ve got kids who can get on base, but we need to do it more than one person per inning.”
Editor Michael Hicks can be reached at 303-350-1039 or via email at mhicks@evergreenco.com. Follow him on Twitter @MHicksEditor.