The combined forces of three Roaring Fork Valley high schools has propelled the rejuvenated Basalt High girls softball team to the postseason and its first winning record in four years.
The Longhorns, made up of players from Basalt, Roaring Fork and Glenwood Springs high schools, rolled to an overall mark of 14 wins, six losses, en route to sharing the 3A/4A Western Slope North League title with Eagle Valley at 9-1.
With that, the Longhorns earned the No. 21 seed in the field of 32 Class 3A teams in this weekend’s Regionals. Basalt is in the Regional playoff hosted by No. 5 Strasburg, with a Saturday opener against No. 12 Delta.
A pair of wins would advance the Longhorns to the 3A State Tournament the following weekend.
“This team really focused on building good habits and setting some hallmarks from the very beginning, and it paid off,” first-year head coach Mike Bromberg said.
“As coaches, we’re just the wind at their back and building off of what they created,” he said of he and assistant coaches Kelsey Dunn and Alexa Chattleton. “This program was ready for somewhat of a rebuild, and it was really player-driven.”
The team put an exclamation mark on the regular season last Thursday, Oct. 8, sweeping a double-header over the visiting Moffat County Bulldogs, 21-6 and 16-0.
Junior Hadley Ivy and sophomore Elsie Mile batted in four runs each in the opener, Mile with a homerun, and Ivy pitched a complete game to get the win. In the nightcap, Mile again had four RBIs (runs batted in), and both she and Ivy hit home runs.
“Softball in the Valley has seen a bit of an uprising,” Bromberg said. “Our seniors have gone through a lot of coaching changes and endured some losing seasons, but now we have several really strong freshman players and we’re building this program back from the younger classes up. So, this year was really a turning point for the program.”
Now it’s on to the playoffs, where the Longhorns face a Delta team that handed them a 19-6 loss in a season-opening tournament on Aug. 14.
“We still didn’t really know who we were at that point, and I think we’ve come a long way and can give them a good game,” Bromberg said. “We’re a confident hitting team, and we’ve really been focusing on being more assertive on defense. That’s going to be key for us.”
Boys soccer
Meanwhile, the Roaring Fork boys soccer team picked up a couple more 3A Western Slope League wins this past week to move their season mark to 10-2, and remain undefeated in league play.
On the road Tuesday at Coal Ridge, the Rams beat the Titans 1-0. The game was scoreless until the second half, when Ram junior Nico Passerini-Burks collected the game-winner.
On Oct. 8, Roaring Fork defeated Middle Park on the road 10-0, scoring seven goals in the first half and three in the second. Scoring two goals each in that contest were senior Cal Stone, junior Felipe Oliva and sophomore Colby Horst. Additional goals came from seniors Wesley Serrano, Kevin Morales and Oliver Shook, and from freshman Quintin Cohen.
Next up, the Rams host Vail Mountain Thursday night. Kickoff is at 6pm at Rams Field next to the middle school.
Girls volleyball
The Rams volleyball team finally notched another one in the win column at home on Oct. 8, when they defeated Moffat County at home, 3-0 (25-19, 25-19, 25-23).
Leading the team in kills was junior Clover Hansen with nine, while senior Hazel Jenkins had seven and seniors Kate Taylor and Tess Hayes had five each. Hayes also had four service aces on the night.
Next up, the Rams (4-13, 2-7) travel to play Delta on Thursday and Middle Park on Saturday.