{"id":2448122,"date":"2019-08-28T22:56:00","date_gmt":"2019-08-29T04:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/added-depth-has-basalt-softball-feeling-good-about-2019\/"},"modified":"2019-08-28T22:56:00","modified_gmt":"2019-08-29T04:56:00","slug":"added-depth-has-basalt-high-softball-team-feeling-good-about-2019-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/added-depth-has-basalt-high-softball-team-feeling-good-about-2019-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Added depth has Basalt High softball team feeling good about 2019 season"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery p402_hide\" readability=\"6.6654411764706\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-312007-558\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/08\/BHSsoftball-atd-082919-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/08\/BHSsoftball-atd-082919-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times | Basalt softball plays against Meeker on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2018. (Photo by Austin Colbert).\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-0.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"10\">\n<p><strong>Basalt softball plays against Meeker on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2018. (Photo by Austin Colbert).<\/strong><br \/>Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/08\/BHSsoftball-atd-082919-1.jpg\" alt=\"Basalt softball plays against Meeker on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2018. (Photo by Austin Colbert).\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/08\/BHSsoftball-atd-082919-1-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/08\/BHSsoftball-atd-082919-1-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times | Basalt High School softball coach David Miller talks to the players during a 2018 game. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"8\">\n<p><strong>Basalt High School softball coach David Miller talks to the players during a 2018 game. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)<\/strong><br \/>Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/08\/BHSsoftball-atd-082919-1-1.jpg\" alt=\"Basalt High School softball coach David Miller talks to the players during a 2018 game. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/08\/Basalt-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/08\/Basalt-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Eric Vozick\/courtesy | The Basalt High School softball team opened its season with a 12-1 win at Cedaredge on Tuesday.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"8\">\n<p><strong>The Basalt High School softball team opened its season with a 12-1 win at Cedaredge on Tuesday.<\/strong><br \/>Eric Vozick\/courtesy<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/08\/Basalt-1.jpg\" alt=\"The Basalt High School softball team opened its season with a 12-1 win at Cedaredge on Tuesday.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/08\/Basalt-2-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/08\/Basalt-2.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Eric Vozick\/courtesy | The Basalt High School softball team opened its season with a 12-1 win at Cedaredge on Tuesday.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"8\">\n<p><strong>The Basalt High School softball team opened its season with a 12-1 win at Cedaredge on Tuesday.<\/strong><br \/>Eric Vozick\/courtesy<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/08\/Basalt-2.jpg\" alt=\"The Basalt High School softball team opened its season with a 12-1 win at Cedaredge on Tuesday.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/added-depth-has-basalt-softball-feeling-good-about-2019\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/added-depth-has-basalt-softball-feeling-good-about-2019\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText DropCap\">When the injury bug hit the Basalt High School softball team midway through the 2018 season it was more or less all she wrote. The Longhorns didn\u2019t have the roster depth to recover from those subtractions, leading to eight consecutive losses to finish the fall.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe had two of our starters, both seniors, both go down \u2014 actually against Cedaredge \u2014 and we never recovered from that, quite honestly. We were doing great before that,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/new-coach-new-pitching-staff-has-longhorn-softball-excited-about-season\/\">second-year BHS coach David Miller<\/a> said Wednesday. \u201cThis year we have enough depth that we can play people in different positions. So you don\u2019t own a position. And I don\u2019t say that in a negative way. I think it just gives us more flex as coaches.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Basalt opened its 2019 season Tuesday with a 12-1 win at Cedaredge, the first step in putting those injuries and losses of 2018 in the past. The Longhorns started last season with seven wins in a row and were ranked in the top 10 of Class 3A before the free fall began. BHS ended the year 9-10 overall (5-6 district play) and lost 13-6 as the No. 15 seed to No. 18 La Junta in the first round of regionals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Miller believes this year\u2019s team can more resemble the one that opened 7-0 and made some noise across the state rankings.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe could do very, very well if we continue to use the fundamentals and the gifts that they have,\u201d Miller said. \u201cAnd if the injury bug doesn\u2019t get us. That is the big thing. I think we have the potential to do really well, but time will tell. I\u2019m very encouraged, quite honestly. I think we can surprise some people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Basalt received three votes in the <a href=\"https:\/\/chsaanow.com\/2019-08-12\/colorado-high-school-softball-rankings-preseason-2019\/\">preseason poll through CHSAANow.com<\/a>, which is voted on by an assortment of coaches and media members from across the state. This essentially ranks them as No. 15 in Class 3A heading into the season, a list topped by preseason No. 1 Strasburg. Delta, Basalt\u2019s district rival, is preseason No. 4.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Cedaredge, who Basalt easily beat in the season opener Tuesday, won at least 13 games each year from 2013 to 2016, then went 8-12 in 2017 and 9-14 in 2018. Based off those results, the Longhorns\u2019 12-1 win could raise an eyebrow or two.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIt went real well. You never know. We weren\u2019t able to get any scrimmages or anything, so we were kind of like, \u2018First time out, let\u2019s see how this works,\u2019\u201d Miller said of Tuesday\u2019s win. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a good group of girls this year. I\u2019m real pleased. We have a significant amount of depth, which is nice. We picked up two freshmen pitchers in addition to our other three, so that\u2019s kind of rare.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Pitching depth could be a strength for the Longhorns. Junior Maya Lindgren pitched all five innings against Cedaredge, allowing only three hits and one earned run with four strikeouts. She was the team\u2019s primary pitcher last season, throwing 61.1 innings, while then-sophomore Grace Schrock pitched 24 innings.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Schrock is back, as is sophomore Bella Meraz, who was the team\u2019s third pitcher last fall. Most of the team\u2019s pitchers this season can play in the infield, giving the coaching staff a lot of options.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI\u2019d much rather have this problem than trying to fill holes,\u201d Miller said of that depth and flexibility. \u201cIt is a good problem to have, but it is a challenge because not everybody will get to play like they want to or think they should. Then it makes it kind of interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Offensively, senior Zoe Vozick did the most damage against Cedaredge with four runs, four hits and four RBI in four at-bats. She led the team with 24 RBI and a .510 batting average a year ago.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The Longhorns next head to Denver for a two-day tournament hosted by Sheridan High School beginning Friday. Their home opener will be a doubleheader against Montezuma-Cortez on Sept. 7.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThat should be a good series. Because Cortez last year was good and they\u2019ve got a senior pitcher that did a good job for them last year,\u201d Miller said. \u201cWe got some good opportunities ahead. We\u2019ll just see if they continue to do what they can do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\"><a href=\"mailto:acolbert@aspentimes.com\">acolbert@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/added-depth-has-basalt-softball-feeling-good-about-2019\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Basalt softball plays against Meeker on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2018. (Photo by Austin Colbert).Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times Basalt High School softball coach David Miller talks to the players during a 2018 game. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times The Basalt High School softball team opened its season with a 12-1 win at [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2448122","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-25 20:58:43","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2448122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2448122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2448122\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2448122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2448122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2448122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}