Berthoud Weekly Surveyor | Covering all the angles in the Garden Spot

Softball celebrates senior night with 19th win of the season

October 19, 2023 | Football

Photo by Will Cornelius
Senior Issabelle Guzman jokes with Coach Buddy Kouns on senior night.

By Will Cornelius
The Surveyor

In their final home game of the season, the Berthoud High School softball team held their senior night while mercy-ruling yet another hapless opponent. On Oct. 3, the Spartans annihilated Platte Valley High School in four innings by a final score of 14-0 to send their seniors off in style. “What a great way to send the seniors off,” commented Head Softball Coach Buddy Kouns on the win.

After the game, seniors Shelby Phipps, Issabelle Guzman, Shaina Nissen, Teresa Garcia and Cemryn Pickett were honored on the softball diamond with friends and family. “It’s been great. This sport has been my life for over a decade now and I couldn’t ask for a better group of girls to be out here with,” said the fourth-year senior Guzman.

It was the 19th win of the season for the team and followed two other impressive wins over the past week. On Sept. 28, the Spartans traveled to play Sterling High School in eastern Colorado where they prevailed 13-2. “Once they turned it on, we went away with that one,” Kouns recalled. This past Monday, Berthoud played Resurrection Christian High School in Loveland. After taking a 5-0 lead in the third inning, Resurrection Christian answered with four runs to swing momentum to their side and make it a one-run game. “But then our girls at the top of the next inning threw a knockout punch because we scored 11 runs in that inning. And it wasn’t a cheap inning, it was 11 runs on I think 13 hits, it was crazy,” Kouns explained.

With a 16-4 lead, the Spartans blanked the hosts in the bottom of the fourth inning and sealed the win via mercy rule.

Today Berthoud will travel to Timnath High School for their final game of the regular season. Regardless of the result, Kouns said the Spartans appear set to host regionals at Bein Park in Berthoud on Oct. 14.

“You always want to be playing your best softball late and I think we’re playing our best softball late,” Kouns said after senior night. Through 22 games, both Pickett and sophomore catcher Lexie Griffin lead the team with a 0.544 batting average. In the circle, Pickett has been lethal with a 16-3 record, 2.40 ERA and 173 strikeouts.

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