State 4A Softball Championship

Congratulations State 4A Softball Champions

High school sports are cyclical. Players come and go, and most teams’ fortunes tend to ride with the quality of the next class to come through. The Holy Family softball team had their doubters coming into the 2021 season after major losses to graduation. Thoughts of a deep playoff run that we’ve been accustomed to would have to be placed on the back burner for a season or two. But if we learned anything this year about the Tigers, they don’t rebuild, they reload. After some early season struggles that saw them start 2-2 – including back-toback run-rule defeats to Broomfield and Mead – coach Moriah Nguyen and her staff tinkered with things and ultimately found the right combination. Behind the strong senior leadership of Abby Edwards, Ava Kuszak and Annika Manzanares as well as the pitching of freshman Izzy Arroyo, the Tigers went on a run that left little doubts who the favorites were going to be heading into the postseason. Holy Family swept through the NCAC, going a perfect 9-0 and entered the playoffs as the No. 1 seed. The Tigers took full advantage, making quick work of Denver North and Berthoud in the regional tournament by a combined 25-0 score, giving up just three hits along the way. On Day 1 at Aurora Sports Park, the Tigers rolled past Palmer Ridge in the opening round to set up a 2021 rubber match with league foe Mead in the quarterfinals. That game was 5-5 going to the bottom of the sixth inning, when Manzanares broke it open and was the catalyst to a four-run inning that sent Holy Family to the semifinals. They got a stern test from newcomers Riverdale Ridge in the penultimate game, winning 7-3 to earn a trip to the finals against D’Evelyn, a team that not only pushed them in last year’s semifinals but also beat them during the 2021 regular season. It was Holy Family’s game from the get-go. Kuszak hit home runs in her first two plates appearances and finished with four hits. The three seniors combined for nine of the Tigers’ 18 hits in the 10-4 rout of the Jaguars and secured the state championship for the Tigers who finished the season 25-4. Holy Family’s back-to-back titles also gave head coach Moriah Nguyen state titles in her first two years as head coach. Holy Family has won three of the last four state 4A championships. Arroyo, who was selected the BoCoPreps Player of the Year as well as the NCAC Pitcher of the Year, went a ridiculous 17-0 during her freshman year with a 1.81 earned run average. It didn’t hurt to have Edwards, the NCAC Player of the Year, as her battery-mate.