MEEKER | A two game weekend for JV and varsity softball turned into just one when rain puddled up the field Thursday evening and Friday morning, but not before Cowboy softball took on the dominant Rifle Bears.
Both the varsity and JV softball teams struggled against Rifle. The varsity lost 3-24 and the JV game, much closer, ran out of time when Rifle was eight points ahead.
“Despite the two losses, there were quite a few good moments in each game but we also saw exactly what we needed to work on,” commented head coach Kendal Bergman.
Meeker has been getting runners in scoring position but continues to come up short with that one crucial hit to score the runners.
“We have left way too many runners on base at the end of the inning,” said Bergman.
Defensively the Cowboys gave up multiple unearned runs.
“We weren’t quite meshing as well as we’ve seen,” commented Bergman, “but the good news is we get to get right back on the horse on Tuesday at Eagle Valley.”
Kastyn Dembowski and Miah Wren stood out for both defense and offense with numerous crucial catches in the outfield and got on base multiple times with successful hits and strategic bunts.
Addie Knowles took the mound for four innings and Kai Watson finished up the fifth.
“Knowles was a true competitor once again and battled hard even as the game continued to slip away from us,” said Bergman. “It’s never easy to keep fighting in a game like that but she never gave up and that’s huge moving forward in the season.”
The JV started off the game three up, three down and Cowboys scoring.
“I have never heard a team cheer so loud. I was so proud,” commented Bergman. “They were so excited to play and we loved seeing that.”
Meeker possessed the momentum at the start of the game with Watson having a three up and three down inning and her defense having her back to get the outs in the first inning. In the Cowboy at bat every player in the lineup made solid contact and made their defense work.
The Bears also didn’t let up and continued to make Meeker’s pitchers work until they eventually came away with the win.
“We will tidy up a few things on defense, keep swinging the bats, and we’ll be ready to hit the field again,” said Bergman.
JV and varsity will have played Eagle Valley on Tuesday and host home games on Wednesday. During Limon week softball will begin their varsity and JV double header at 9 a.m.
