After another week of league play, the Fossil Ridge High School baseball team has found themselves adding another two losses onto their already disappointing record this season. On Tuesday, April 25, the boys lost (5-6) against Horizon High School, followed by a (0-10) loss to Mountain Range on Thursday, April 27.
Following the ‘Cats’ games last week, junior Aj Artis said, “The team as a whole fought the entire game against Horizon but unfortunately came up short. However, against Mountain Range we came out flat and didn’t bring much energy and the score showed that.” The first five minutes of any game are extremely important, more so the energy brought in those first few minutes, and that lack of energy from Fossil Ridge was something Moutain Range knew they had to capitalize on. Mustang senior Zach Munson commented, “I thought our energy was pretty high, and we knew we needed to set the tone after having two back to back losses against Broomfield and Loveland High School in the weeks prior. We knew we just hit a lapse and needed to play like we know we can; winning against Fossil was nice reassurance for our team after hitting that bump in the season.”
It’s no question that Fossil has a team of passionate players, and although many of the players have been a part of the program throughout their four years as SaberCats, there are a handful of juniors who add depth to the team. Munson also mentioned, “Although Fossil seemed to be a somewhat younger team, there is definitely some great talent there. It’s not a matter of if, as it is when they will figure out what they need to do to tap into all of that potential.”
Seniors Dayton Williams, Noah Watters, Jake Grillo, Alex Paul, and Ryan Smith are now four year veterans for Fossil and have each played a part in creating the brotherhood this team shares. Artis also commented, “Overall the team hasn’t been playing to the ability level that I believe we could have reached if we had the desire to win, and at times that desire can’t be found no matter how hard you look for it. I think we just need to stick together as a team and focus on winning out the rest of the season. With the tight team bond we have I think it’s possible; I have never played with such a brother-like group of guys who love the game as much as they do. With that said, it’s going to come down to how badly each and every one of us wants to win if we want to end the season on a high.”
The boys have three games left this season, and after an interview with Coach Masi, it doesn’t look like the team has any intention of throwing in the towel.“ This is a very mature team, we have junior and seniors leading our younger players, and even though our results haven’t been what we wanted the team continues to fight and work for each other. The plan is to go out and play hard these last three games and hope to end on a little winning streak.” Masi commented.
Their next game is on May 2, at 4:00 P.M. at Greeley West High School, come out and support the boys as they make their way through the home stretch of the season.
