Eaton a three-peat offender in 3A softball championship game

AURORA – The story of Eaton softball at the Class 3A state tournament has become fairly predictable over the last few years.

Eat, sleep, conquer, three-peat.

An 8-6 win over league rival University powered the Red to the 3A state title, its third in as many seasons and fourth in the last five. But no matter how many times Eaton is the team celebrating and getting showered with hugs and trophy pictures, it’s a feeling that’s fresh each and every year.

“Every season is a new season with a new group of players and new group of seniors,” coach Chad Shaw said. “The tradition continues on as each of them come up as upperclassmen. It’s a feeling that never gets old.

This tournament win caps another strong from the state’s premier 3A softball program. The Reds dropped just three games all year. One was to Riverdale Ridge, a team that scratched and clawed its way to the 5A title game, another was to Holy Family, a 4A semifinalist and the last was to Southeast Colorado, a co-op team comprised of girls from Wiley, Eads and McClave.

That was the one that mattered, because Eaton got its chance at redemption in the 3A semifinals.

Kiauna Smith was more than happy to lead the revenge charge, going 2-for-4 in that game with a home run. She drove in five total runs in the 13-4 win.

Then the sights turned to University.

The Bulldogs got on the board first, scoring a run off a couple of unorthodox errors from the Reds. But Shaw stressed that one run wouldn’t break the team.

They rewarded his belief as Emma Anderson blasted a 2-run home run in the bottom of the first to give Eaton the lead.

“I trusted in our offense so much after this year that I knew we were going to come back,” she said.

Bria Foster added a 3-run shot three batters later, giving the Reds a four-run cushion. They never looked back.

That’s not to say that University went down without a fight. Natalie Galindo hit a 2-run home run in the third to cut the Eaton lead to 6-3 and the Bulldogs even got to within two runs twice. Jasi Cole drove in Kenzie Wyatt with an RBI single in the sixth and Sydney Goetzel scored on a wild pitch. But it was too little, too late.

This is the second time in the last three years that Eaton has beaten University in the state final, a rivalry that has been showcased on the baseball diamond as well. With the Reds taking care of business in the fall, Shaw is hoping his baseball counterpart in Todd Hernandez can match him in the spring.

“Coach Hernandez and I have a fun little back and forth about coaching and everything that comes with it,” Shaw said. “They’re primed to do well as well.”