The Avalanche softball team has captured the Division 1 softball championship.
“Defense was the key ingredient to our successful season, said Manager Gregg Foster. “We had some game-saving plays by several people, but more importantly we played a very solid team defense in every game. Interestingly, the defensive exception was our first game in which we had 5 errors in the first two innings. We fell behind 8 to 1 only to come back in the bottom of the seventh to win 10 to 9. If there was a single game that defined our season, that was it. We never gave up. This team had a mind-set that we could win every game. Six of our games were decided by one run and we won four of these in the last inning.”
Darrel Smith (6) and Rick Rivard (5) led the team in homeruns while Darrel (.692)and Greg Hanson (.643) led the team in batting average.
“Our hitting was more timely than dominate,” said Foster. “Our team batting average was not as high as some of the other teams, but someone on the team would manage to get a key hit at just the right time. For example, both Dave Schultz and Larry Wizauer hit last inning homeruns to win games for us. Overall the competition in this league was very close. We were never more than a game ahead throughout the season and held only a half-game lead going into the final week. We had a few senior moments, but the quality and cooperation by everyone kept us on track for a winning season.”
