Real tears come when something is cared about deeply, so it was no surprise that they came from the Grandview softball team Oct. 21.
The Wolves had just had their season come to an end with a 10-5 loss to powerhouse Douglas County, but the circumstances of the end were so much different than the previous year.
Resurgent Grandview earned the program’s first trip to the Class 5A state tournament since 2015 and not only got to the Aurora Sports Park with 15 other teams, but ended up as one of the final eight left standing.
Coach Liz Carter’s heavily-invested Wolves came out swinging with a first-round 11-9 victory over Broomfield, then battled valiantly against Douglas County — a team that would go on to make it to the state championship game — before its season came to an end. Not in the same way as 2021, when Grandview won just eight games and missed out on the postseason completely.
“Knowing where we started to where we are now, I’m very proud of these girls,” Grandview senior shortstop Carmela Tejada said. “We had the same pitcher and mostly the same girls, but we had more confidence and we were able to come together more this year.”
Grandview was low on seniors, but ace pitcher Makayla Valle will be missed in the future.
Valle pitched the entire game against Broomfield and made it midway through the game against Douglas County before the powerful Huskies — who homered three times in a span of four batters in a six-run third inning — forced Carter to go to the bullpen. Valle got hugs from coaches and players as she exited the field, then did what she could to encourage her teammates for the final innings.
The Wolves had plenty of youth on the roster, but the moment wasn’t too big for any of them.
Among the top performances from the underclassmen: sophomore Brooklyn Heil finished with five hits (including two doubles) and scored three times between the two games, junior Ashley Miller homered and drove in four runs in the opening win and freshman Sasha Kennedy had three hits, two RBI and a variety of outstanding catches in left field to boot.
It was a huge step forward for the program.
“We grew as a team and it was amazing,” Heil said, blinking back tears. “It felt like we had more maturity and trusted each other more.”
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Colorado Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
2022 CLASS 5A STATE SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT
Oct. 21 at Aurora Sports Park
Second round: (2) Douglas County 10, (7) Grandview 5
Score by innings (r-h-e):
Grandview 003 020 0 — 5 7 0
Douglas Co. 006 202 x — 10 10 2
GRANDVIEW (ab-r-h-rbi)
Brooklyn Heil cf 4-1-3-1, Sasha Kennedy rf 4-1-1-1, Kristin Gallego 3b 2-0-0-1, Ashley Miller 2b 3-0-0-0, Peytann Weiland c 3-0-0-0, Makayla Valle p 2-0-0-0, Leah Graves p 1-0-0-0, Maya Sprague rf 3-0-0-0, Zoe Vondruska 1b 3-1-1-0, Carmela Tejada ss 3-2-2-0. Totals 28-5-7-3. Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Makayla Valle (L, 3 2/3-5-8-7-6-3), Leah Graves (2 1/3-2-2-0-2-4)
DOUGLAS COUNTY (ab-r-h-rbi)
Madison Heiner ss 3-1-0-0, Channing Bower 2b 3-2-2-3, Sydney Montoya cf 4-2-2-0, Marina Tinari p 3-1-2-3, Macee Taylor 2b 3-1-2-1, Emerson Williams 1b 2-0-0-0, Grace Huber rf 3-0-1-3, Cassidy Jacobs 3b 3-0-0-0, Abby Trotter lf 4-1-1-0, Kelsi Juracesvsky pr 0-1-0-0. Totals 28-10-10-10. Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Marina Tinari (W, 7-7-5-3-0-11).
2B — Grandview: Brooklyn Heil. Douglas County: Grace Huber, Sydney Montoya. HR — Douglas County: Channing Bower (2 on in 3rd inning), Marina Tinari (1 on in 3rd), Macee Taylor (solo in 3rd)
First round: (7) Grandview 11, (10) Broomfield 9
Score by innings (r-h-e):
Broomfield 101 021 4 — 9 13 6
Grandview 700 022 x — 11 11 1
GRANDVIEW (ab-r-h-rbi)
Brooklyn Heil cf 3-2-2-0, Sasha Kennedy lf 3-2-2-1, Kristin Gallego 3b 4-1-1-0, Ashley Miller 2b 4-2-3-4, Peytann Weiland c 4-0-1-0, Makayla Valle p 3-0-1-0, Maya Sprague rf 2-0-0-0, Zoe Vondruska 1b 3-0-1-0, Carmela Tejada ss 3-1-0-0. Totals 29-11-11-5. Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Makayla Valle (W, 7-13-9-9-4-8)
2B — Grandview: Brooklyn Heil, Sasha Kennedy. HR — Grandview: Ashley Miller
