D’Evelyn softball wins wild game versus Mountain Vista

DENVER — D’Evelyn sophomore Nava Basquez had a monster game at the plate and on the mound Monday in the Jaguars’ rollercoaster 11-10 victory over Mountain Vista.

Basquez went 4-for-4 from the plate with a triple, double and a pair of singles. She also scored twice and knocked in the eventual game-winning run with a 2-out single in the bottom of the sixth inning.

“I’m so proud of her,” D’Evelyn senior Peyton Marvel said of Basquez. “I’ve never seen her play that well of a game. To be a sophomore and show us what she is capable of is amazing.”

Basquez had a lead-off triple in the second inning and scored on a throwing error to give the Jaguars a 2-0 lead. She singled and scored in D’Evelyn’s 5-run third inning that pushed the lead to 7-0, but Mountain Vista quickly responded in the top of the fourth inning.

The Golden Eagles sent 11 batters to the plate scoring seven times to knot the game up 7-7. All the runs were actually unearned with a pair of rare errors by Marvel at shortstop helping Mountain Vista to the huge inning.

“It was hard. My head was defintely down for a while,” Marvel said of her two fielding error in the fourth inning. “Honestly, my team picked me up. In the end, I’m so proud of them. It was great to see us play as a team and have them pick me up.”

Senior Lauren Falk belted a deep home run off D’Evelyn starting pitcher Tess Miller that began a string of seven straight Golden Eagle hitters reaching base.

Basquez relieved Miller on the hill and got a fly ball out on her first pitch of the game to finally end the top of the fourth inning. Basquez had only pitched 17 innings of varsity games last year as a freshman.

“I was pretty nervous because I haven’t been able to pitch too much,” Basquez said taking over in the circle in the top of the seven inning. “Mountain Vista is a good hitting team.”

D’Evelyn regained the lead 9-7 in the bottom of the fourth inning with RBI hits by senior Lexi Ornstein and Basquez. However, Mountain Vista got a second home run by Falk in the top of the fifth inning and plated two more runs in the top of the sixth inning to take its first lead 10-9.

Falk actually took over the pitching duties in the bottom of the sixth after a lead-off single by D’Evelyn junior Rachel Perlman. Miller — who also went 4-for-4 from the plate — singled and scored to tie the game at 10-10. Basquez came through again with a single up the middle to score Ornstein to regain the lead 11-10.

“Nava had a great game hitting,” D’Evelyn coach Dan Porreco said. “That was great.”

Falk didn’t get a chance to tie the game or pick her third home run of the game after getting intentionally walked to lead-off the seventh inning. Marvel got a ground ball where she forced Falk out at second base. Marvel then caught a pop up for the second out.

“I was so happy that I got those two plays,” Marvel said of her defensive plays in the seventh inning before Basquez finished the game with a strikeout. “I was ready for them and excited to get the ball.”

The victory improved D’Evelyn to a 2-0 record on the season.

“There is so much learning,” Porreco said victory over Mountain Vista who defeated the Jaguars the previous two years in early non-league games. “Not to give up. How you can come back and stick together. That was really good.”

D’Evelyn is come off another Class 4A state tournament appearance and actually didn’t graduate any seniors from last year’s team that finished with a 14-12 record.

“We just want to get better every game,” Porreco said. “We aren’t looking ahead.”