The Greeley West Spartan Softball team rematched Lutheran in their Elite 8 game on Friday afternoon at the state tournament and lost 13-0 in 4 innings.
In the first inning, the Lions got off to a hot start after an error caused a run to score. They tallied three more runs, causing West coach Kaylyn Kingman to pull star pitcher Ellyse Hydock for reliever Iyanna Martinez. Lutheran ended the inning 7-0.
They then scored another run in the bottom of the second to push their leadto 8-0.
Coach Kingman explained what the team’s mindset was before the game. “They were pumped, ready, willing to put it all out on the line,” Kingman explained.
“But I think there were some feelings that we saw Lutheran already and we didn’t know what to expect. As much as we want to say they came in with confidence and swagger, there’s always that lingering thought like ‘what’s going to happen?’” Kingman added.
The Spartans continued to fight, tallying a walk and a single with two outs in the top of the third, but left the runners stranded.
The Lions put the game out of reach in the bottom of the third with two home runs to push their lead to 13-0.
The Spartans had not been to state since 2008 and dominated the diamond all season, most recently upsetting No. 5 seed Discovery Canyon 8-5 earlier in the day.
Head Coach Kingman expressed her thoughts on how this win will set the precedent for next season. “I think that we surprised everybody by making it as far as we did, and I think we knew we were going to be at state the whole time, Kingman said. “Now being here, we set the expectation that we will be going here from now on.”
The Spartans have a young team with only two senior starters, with the rest of their line up being sophomores and juniors with one freshman starter. Coach Kingman looked ahead to the future of the team and how this run motivated the Lady Spartans.
“I think it’s going to be the people coming into the program that are going to be the motivated ones. It’s now finding those positions that seniors have graduated from, I think that a lot of the team now understands that it’s all of us that’s going to be a leader,” Kingman said.
Overall the Greeley West Softball team had its best season in years and finished with a record of 21-7.
