By Luke Loftus/The Johnstown Breeze
The Lady Riders look to make some noise this weekend in the Palmer Ridge softball regional. The other three teams in the regional, along with the 16th seed Rough Riders, are the 2nd seed Palmer Ridge Bears, the 15th seed Rifle Bears and the 31st seed Pueblo East Eagles.
Coach Vince Moreno is excited about how the team has been playing heading into the playoffs.
“Honestly, I think we have had one of our best weeks of practice to prepare for this,” Moreno said in a phone interview on Thursday. “We had a scrimmage on Tuesday, and we played really well, hit really well, pitched really well. And I think for us, it’s a good time. I think everything is coming together right now. I feel really good about our chances.”
Asked how the seniors have been stepping it up, Moreno said, “You know, I think all of our seniors will play an important role come tomorrow. Molly Vetter, our catcher, has been hitting the ball phenomenally. So has Cali Bly, our first baseman, and Roz Muguerza in the outfield. They have all had fantastic years at the plate, and we need that to continue. They have been hot the last couple of weeks, and we need that to continue for the next couple of weeks, at least tomorrow for sure.”
At the beginning of the season Moreno mentioned how pitching needed to be on point to keep the offense in the game. When asked how the pitching side of things has gone, he said, “Our pitchers have done everything we have asked of them. Starting with Lexi Arave, our sophomore, she has been phenomenal. And then our junior Kenzie Maddox, she comes in for relief, and we just ask them to keep us in games, and that’s what they have been doing. They keep us close.”
Asked about how he feels the regular season was as a whole, Moreno said, “I’ve been very proud of the girls, and all the hard work they’ve done this year. I’m super proud of where we finished, third in the league, not where we wanted to finish, but we played every team competitively all year long. Most of our losses have been fairly close.
“I’ve also told the girls that this is the time to come together, end of the year, and right now I feel really good about it.”
The Lady Rough Riders will play their first game on Friday against the Rifle Bears. The goal is to win two before losing two to advance to next weekend’s round of the playoffs.