GHS softball team falls to Delta, Rifle

The Gunnison High School softball team fell to 5-12 on the season with three losses last week.

They opened the week with a stand-alone game at Delta on Tuesday, Sept. 15, and then played a double-header at Rifle on Friday, Sept. 18.

They lost to Delta 18-6 on Tuesday in four innings. The girls finished with five hits and five errors.

The Cowboys got out to a 2-0 lead after the top half of the first, but never saw the lead again. The Panthers added six runs in the first, seven in the second, one in the third and four in the fourth to close it out.

Josie Vollendorf and McKayla Singer each had two hits and combined for four RBIs as well. Cameron Leonard had the Cowboys’ only other hit and Susan Espinoza had the only other RBI.

Brynn Romero gave up 18 runs (nine earned) on 10 hits in three innings, also walking 10 and striking out two.

On Friday, the Cowboys lost 16-7 in the first game and 10-0 in the second game.

In the first game, the girls finished with four hits and seven errors. 

The girls were down 1-0 after two and tied the game up in the top of the third, but the Bears added four in the third to take a 5-1 lead. The Cowboys answered with four of their own in the fourth to tie it up once again, but the Bears would go on to score four more in the fourth and fifth and then add three more in the sixth, eventually winning 16-7.

Vollendorf, Reese Japuntich, Leonard and Romero each had a hit and Vollendorf and Japuntich each had an RBI.

Japuntich started on the mound and gave up five runs, none of them earned, on seven hits while walking none and striking out two, but her day was done after three innings. Romero threw the final three innings and gave up 11 runs (four earned) on nine hits and walked three.

In the second game, the girls finished with two hits and committed two errors. The Bears scored their ninth and 10th run in the sixth inning to close out the game.

“Although we lost, we are starting to hit the ball better and we are getting runners on base,” wrote head coach Leslie diLorenzo in an email to the Times. “Defensively, we are getting better, and we are still making some errors, but we are making plays that we were not making earlier.”

Up next, the Cowboys will host Meeker (5-12) for a double-header on Saturday, Sept. 26. Meeker is ranked 37th in 3A, just one spot above the Cowboys.