After an exceptionally long week, the Cherokee Trail softball team rested.
The Cougars have a slight lull in their schedule upcoming, which is well deserved after they played four games in five days, which culminated with a showdown at rival Grandview Sept. 14.
Coach Caley Mitchell’s Cherokee Trail team came away with an 11-6 victory that extended its winning streak to seven games and further enhanced its position with the Class 5A state playoffs looming in less than a month.
“We graduated seven seniors from last year, so our theme has been this is the next episode of CT softball,” Mitchell said, referring to big losses from a team that went 20-8 and lost in the second round of the 5A state tournament.
“We have a lot of new faces and its taking us a little while to figure out all the pieces of the puzzle and where people should be,” she added. “But as we are doing it, things are coming along nicely.”
Indeed, even as it clarifies roles and defines its strengths, Cherokee Trail is off to a 10-2 start, with losses only to 13-1 Windsor (7-6) and 11-3 Columbine. The Cougars sit No. 3 in the Colorado High School Activities Association’s Class 5A coaches poll of Sept. 15 and they occupy the same place in CHSAA’s seeding index, where they trail only No. 1 Columbine and No. 2 Valor Christian.
If anybody knows about building a team to get ready for the postseason, it is Mitchell, who guided the program to a 5A state championship in 2016 along with runner-up finishes in 2018 and 2020.
She has a mix of a small bit of experience in seniors Kennedy Brian, Kylie Twilt and Icela Ciocarlan, along with a strong young nucleus that includes a slew of juniors and sophomores.
Sophomores Sydney Cobb (3-0, 7.79 ERA) and Emma Rice (6-1, 3.85 ERA) — who both got good experience on varsity last season — have been outstanding in the circle.
Against Grandview, Rice came on in relief of Cobb and tossed 5 1/3 scoreless innings to keep the Wolves at bay. While she put up zeroes, Rice homered (her team-leading fifth of the season) and Ciocarlan went deep twice, while the Cougars flexed their speed on the bases as well.
Rice (.605) and Cobb (.512) also boast the team’s highest batting averages and top two RBI totals (23 for Cobb, 18 for Rice). Brian keeps knocking in runs (16 RBI in 12 games after 57 last year), sophomore Tayah Burton has swiped 20 bases and the other players in the lineup just keep finding a way to make an impact.
The pitching strength and offensive prowess gives the look of a team that is pointed upward and could continue going that way.
“We like to stay we’re going up the gondola and I think we’re making good progress towards going to state,” Ciocarlan said.
The Cougars will be tested for the rest of the season with a non-league schedule that includes a visit to Valor Christian (Sept. 20), a local matchup with Eaglecrest Sept. 24, a rescheduled contest with Legend (10-3) Oct. 2 and an Oct. 10 regular season finale at Broomfield (16-0), with the Centennial League Challenge in between.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports