AURORA – The 2021 softball state championships began on Friday at Aurora Sports Park and after two rounds of play in Classes 3A-5A, the six semifinal games are set for Saturday’s final day.
Four of the six teams that played in last year’s three championship games are still alive.
In Class 4A, No. 1 Holy Family will face No. 4 Riverdale Ridge in the semifinals. On the other side, a red-hot No. 6 Elizabeth squad will take on No. 7 D’Evelyn, a club that needed a walk-off home run in the 10th inning to make it out of the first round on Friday.
For Holy Family, the defending Class 4A state champions, it took a late four-run rally in a quarterfinals victory over No. 9 Mead, the local league rival the Tigers defeated in last year’s title game, to reach the semifinals.
“Every time we play Mead, they’re always tough to beat,” Holy Family head coach Moriah Nguyen said. “They’re a great team, they’re well-coached and we always know it’s going to be a great game. We’ve got some good momentum going into tomorrow and we’re excited. That was a good win for us.”
In Class 3A, No. 1 Lutheran, last year’s runner-up, will face No. 4 Sterling in one semifinal and No. 3 University will take on No. 2 Eaton, the defending champions, in the other. By reaching the semifinals, Lutheran continued it’s magical season and improved to 27-0.
“Limon tested us, so that was good,” Lions head coach Glen Maestretti said. “We needed to be tested because these girls will keep getting tested tomorrow. I feel like the lineup it hard to deal with, our defense is tough and our pitching has been on point.”
In Class 5A, No. 1 Horizon will play No. 4 Legend in one semifinal and No. 3 Fossil Ridge will take on No. 2 Columbine. Defending champion Fossil Ridge is back in the semifinals. But took a quarterfinals victory over No. 6 Mountain Vista that included a walk-off hit by Morgan Curtis and an 11-strikeout performance from pitcher Nikki McGaffin that brought her career total to 800 in order to get there.
“That was an unbelievable game,” Fossil Ridge head coach Dave Philop said. “That’s just part of what this team’s been all year. They really play for each other, they play for the coaches, the coaches play for them, and it’s a really close-knit group. I think that’s what got us through it. But that was an ubelievable game and that’s a heck of a team right there.”
Brackets: