(Aislyn Carrillo/CHSAANow.com)
FORT COLLINS — Going into Tuesday’s game with two star players out, Fossil Ridge coach Dave Philop felt a little “unsure” about how his team would perform against Horizon.
Little did he know, his team would compensate for those who were injured by defending the fort and coming out on top.
The Sabercats (7-4-1 overall, 2-2 Front Range League) defeated the Hawks 7-6 on Tuesday to get a much-needed league win.
Horizon (6-6, 1-3) started out the game strong by opening it up with a home run. They held a steady lead on the Sabercats up until the fifth inning when junior Megan Jamison struck out the Horizon side and had a phenomenal hit that turned the whole game around.
Jamison’s big hit brought in three runs, which put Fossil in the lead. The score remained 4-3 up until the end of the sixth inning.
It all came down to the seventh inning when both teams were battling to get more runs. A hit from Taylor Humphries brought in a run that tied up the game, and two more base hits loaded the bases. The combination of a successful hit from Horizon and an error in Fossil’s outfield put the Hawks in the lead at 6-4 the middle of the seventh inning.
Fossil knew it was going to be a challenge during its last time at bat.
Going into the final inning Philop recognized that his team was down two runs and knew that they could have given up.
“(I wondered if they) could accept this challenge and step up for a couple good players who are not in the lineup,” Philop said.
(Aislyn Carrillo/CHSAANow.com)
His team responded tremendously by stepping up to the plate, determined to win the game. It turns out that a pep talk from their coach was all the Sabercats needed in order to give it their all in the last inning. They played aggressively. The first two hitters set up the rest of their team for an exciting conclusion to the game — immediately loading the bases.
Horizon coach Gary Mares made the decision to take a timeout at this time for the sake of his team’s lead.
Coming out of the timeout, the Sabercats were unstoppable. A hit from Malori Pojar plated on, then Sam Shuweihat quickly followed up with a massive hit, sending two more of her teammates home to win the game.
Needless to say Horizon made some mistakes and Fossil took advantage of them.
“They keep battling and find a way to win, we hit some spots and they found some holes,” Mares said.
Both teams are coming off of some serious injuries, which puts them a step behind, but they are moving things around and striving be the best that they possibly can be.
Fossil will host Greeley West on Sept. 24 at home.
“It’s one game at a time, one pitch at a time, you just have to go in not expecting anything,” said Jamison, who helped carry her team in Tuesday’s win.