DENVER | Nayely Duran stood over home plate and watched as the end of the season for her Vista PEAK Prep softball team flashed in front of her.
The Vista PEAK Prep senior catcher saw a baserunner from Denver South steam around third base and head towards home with the winning run after an errant throw sent the ball down the first base line.
But suddenly, Duran looked up and the ball was delivered to her glove in time for her to apply the tag on a close play at the plate. The runner was ruled out, which sent the game — which had been resumed from way back in August — to extra innings. Coach John Waller’s Bison took advantage of the new life with three runs in the top of the eighth and held on for a thrilling 15-12 victory to secure the City League championship.
“I was like ‘Oh no, where’s the ball?’ and then I saw I had a potential (tag),” Duran said. “I got it, turned around and she was right there, so I tagged her. I was like ‘yes, that just saved the game!”
Buoyed by the defensive gem — which stopped a rally that saw the Ravens score twice in the final inning to tie the game at 12-12 — Vista PEAK Prep got an RBI double from junior Amara Herrera, followed by a two-run, inside-the-park home run by speedy junior Jaya Gray to again take the lead in a see-saw contest.
Herrera secured the next three outs with help from a strong defense and the jubilant Bison were able to celebrate a league championship an an automatic spot in the upcoming Class 5A regional postseason.
In his first year since he took over for Eddie Sanchez, Waller
“It’s a great group of kids and they really played together, played for one another and believed,” Waller said. “Even when we were down, everybody the dugout believed we had a chance. I loved their growth, their togetherness and the sisterhood they developed. They wanted to build this program and they did it for the seniors.”
Vista PEAK Prep has a handful of seniors — Duran, pitcher Lauren Reed, plus Jaylene Banuelos Oronia, Madalyn Lock and Brianna Fierro — and none had experienced postseason play. Getting them there for the first time required a victory against Denver South, as the Bison went into the game on the outside of the top 32 teams in the Colorado High School Activities Association’s seeding index.
The game originally started way back on Aug. 22, when it had to be suspended in the bottom of the second inning with Vista PEAK Prep in front 4-1.
The teams returned to the field at Denver South six weeks later with the game setting up as the league championship game as both teams finished 11-2 against City League opponents.
After the resumption, the Ravens scored the first four runs to go in front, Vista PEAK Prep scored five times in the fourth inning (a rally that included a two-run single by Reed and run-scoring hits from Duran and sophomore Rylie Camarillo) and two more times in the top of the fifth to go up by as many as six runs.
The Bison plated just one run in the final innings, however, while Denver South rallied to score seven times. The Ravens loaded the bases against in the bottom of the seventh in a two-run game, but Herrera got a force out and followed a tying hit with a double play when Camarillo snared a line drive for the second out and the third was made on the tag out at the plate after her throw eluded Banuelos Oronia at first base.
Reed’s second hit of the game opened the eighth and Banuelos Oronia sacrificed her to second base before Herrera came through with a two-out double to the gap in left center field.
“I was honestly just trying to move her and wasn’t thinking too much,” Herrera said. “I was just relaxed.”
Herrera finished the game 5-for-6 and scored five runs in the game, including a big one when Gray (who had four hits in the game) smoked a ball on a bounce to the fence in right center field.
Gray (who has a whopping 27 extra base hits on the season) flew around the bases, got waved home by Waller and slid across the plate just ahead of the relay throw from third base.
“There’s no doubt I was sending her,” Waller said. “If the ball goes to right field and you bobble it, there’s no doubt I’m sending her and she knows that.”
Vista PEAK Prep didn’t need the extra runs as Herrera (who pitched 5 2/3 innings of relief) got two fly ball outs and a liner to Gray to finish the game.
It was the type of team victory that could give the Bison momentum in the postseason as they seek to make the state tournament for the first time.
“We’ve never gotten this far, so it’s definitely really, really good for us,” Duran said. “We’ve had ups and downs, but we did it. (In the playoffs) if we lose, we lose, but I think we’ll go out there and finish strong.”
Note: Vista PEAK Prep will make the second regional appearance in the history of the program, which started back in 2011. The Bison finished as the then-Colorado 7 League runner-up in 2015 and made it into the Class 4A Regions, where they lost both games.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
VISTA PEAK PREP 15, DENVER SOUTH 12 (8 INN.)
Score by innings (r-h-e):
Vista PEAK Prep 130 521 03 — 15 14 2
Denver South 023 050 20 — 12 12 7
VISTA PEAK (ab-r-h-rbi)
Amara Herrera ss-p 6-5-5-1, Jaya Gray cf-ss 6-4-4-4, Nayely Duran c-cf 6-1-4-3, Rylie Camarillo 3b 2-1-1-0, Kaydence Maes 2b-c 4-0-0-0, Madalyn Lock lf 5-0-0-0, Lauren Reed p-lf-rf 5-2-2-2, Jaylene Banuelos Oronia 1b 4-0-0-0, Brianna Fierro 2b 5-1-2-1, Bella Renzi 1-0-1-0, Nia Mathis 2-0-1-0, Sariyah Davis cr 0-1-0-0. Totals 46-15-20-11. Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Lauren Reed (2 1/3-3-4-1-2-1), Amara Herrera (W, 5 2/3-5-8-5-7-3)
DENVER SOUTH (ab-r-h-rbi)
Aubrie Ezell ss 4-1-0-0, Norah Schloegel c 5-3-4-2, Emma Gibson p 0-1-0-0, Nola Lucht rf 2-0-0-0, Olivia Brett ph 1-1-1-2, Elizabeth Henderson 1b 5-1-2-2, Stella Destin 2b 3-1-0-0, Astrea Salazar cf 4-0-0-0, Tahlia Moreno 2b 5-0-1-1, Gabrielle Goldberg 1-0-0-0, Addie Urbanski cr 0-2-0-0, Iris Duran 1-1-0-0. Totals 35-12-12-12. Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Olivia Gibson (L, 6-10-9-4-1-6), Emma Gibson (2-4-6-2-0-5)
2B — Vista PEAK Prep: Lauren Reed. Denver South: Olivia Gibson 2, Norah Schloegel. 3B — Vista PEAK Prep: Amara Herrera. Denver South: Olivia Gibson. HR — Vista PEAK Prep: Jaya Gray (1 on in 8th inning). Denver South: Norah Schloegel (solo in 3rd inning)
