The Lady Reds softball team defeated the Wray Eagles 14-4, qualifying the team for state, and the Reds also lost both a game 18-3 to the Sterling Tigers and the regional champs title on Oct. 17. In order to qualify for state, the Reds had to beat Wray, which the Reds accomplished with a steady accumulation of runs. Lauren Frink (19) pitched the successful game against Wray.

Victory against Wray and qualification for state

Varsity starter Kaci Jurgensmeier (16) said against Wray “we hit very well in that game. We had one of our most decent hitting games with a lot of line drives to the outfield. Everybody was on right away and came ready to play. Our pitchers did well. Our infielders did what they were supposed to do, which lead to a successful game. We adjusted to the pitching change and we did what we needed to do to win.”

Lady Reds lose regional champs title with the Sterling loss

Later that day the Reds played Sterling for the regional title. Although the Lady Reds lost to Sterling, the Reds are still going to state. Against Sterling, Rachel Graham, (17) Lauren Frink, (19) and Jenna Thompson (17) each pitched. Varsity starter Megan Hawthorn (16) said against Sterling “we were just in our heads and tired from the first game. We lost focus during the break. We thought we had a decent shot of beating Sterling.” Jurgensmeier agreed with Hawthorn. She said, “Sterling is a good team. They are very diverse in their team which makes them very hard to play against. We thought we had a chance against them, but we definitely will be able to see them in the third round if we make it that far in state.” The last time the Reds played Sterling they lost by just one run, 10-9.

Confidence and belief in abilities

Coach Chad Shaw said confidence played a big role in both of the games on Saturday. He said, “What contributed the most to the win against Wray was our pitchers were able to throw strikes, our defense was able to come up with timely outs when they needed to, and more important than that, we were able to put runs on the board. So confidence, mostly [contributed to the win against Wray]. What contributed to the loss against Sterling was a lack of confidence. Unfortunately, sometimes [the Lady Reds,] when things don’t go their way early in the game, they lose a little bit of confidence. They start to doubt themselves, and as soon as you start to doubt your abilities, you start playing bad and you start to question everything that you’re doing. That results in the other team scoring a whole lot more runs than you.” Moreover, Shaw enforced the importance of confidence and belief for the Lady Reds future success.

What’s next for the Reds

This puts the team’s rank at 14-7 overall and a league ranking of 8-6. The Reds will play Cedaredge on Oct. 23 in a neutral playoff. Check out the preview game stats of Eaton compared to Cedaredge. Then the Reds will play the non-patriot league team, the La Junta Tigers. For the first time in five years, the Reds will not play a patriot league team in the second round of the state tournament. If the Reds beat both Cedaredge and La Junta, they will play Sterling in the final four of the state tournament.

Outlook on future Sterling match-off

Currently, Jurgensmeier said the outlook on the possible duel against Sterling “will definitely be a challenge. It’s really determined a lot on our pitching and our hitting. If we are off offensively that tends to throw everything off. But if our pitchers are able to stay strong and hold their own against Sterling we should be fine.” Likewise, Hawthorn said, “I think we will come up fired up for that game since it’s state.”

Shaw is optimistic for the upcoming tournament

Right now, Shaw said, the Reds “have a great opportunity to get into the tournament as far as we possibly can. In the first tournament we play Cedaridge, which based on what we know about them, they are not as strong of a team as we are. We should be able to go into that game with a high level of confidence and belief in our abilities. If we can get past La Junta, which is going to take that confidence and belief, and not letting doubt sneak in there, it is humanly possible to see the softball team make it to the final four. That is something we haven’t done since 1999. As long as we can stay in the right place in our heads, we have a chance, and that’s all you can ask for is a chance.”

Reds in the final 12 

At this point in the tournament, there are only 12 teams left. Shaw said, “We got invited to the dance and now we need to dance.”