Before playing this Saturday, Mead’s softball team was ranked sixth in the Class of 4A. They were able to host a tournament on their own field because they were ranked in the top eight for their class.

Teams that were included in their regional bracket were Golden (8), Northfield (25), and Northridge (27). The bracket was set so that Mead would play Northridge and Northfield would play Golden. Both games started at 10 a.m. 

In the first game, Mead started off the first inning with a run driven in by player Katelyn Wiescamp (‘23) after an error made by Northridge.

They then continued to score five more runs in the third inning with advances to bases on several hard hits such as doubled line drive by Adisyn Rademacher (‘25), single line drive to center field hit by Lexi Cook (‘24), and hard ground ball to left field by MK Dusza (‘23).

At this point, the Mavericks were up by six runs on Northridge. 

In the fourth inning, they scored five additional runs with key hits by Wiescamp (‘23) and another line drive by Duzsa (23’) in which she advanced to third on an error by the left fielder—this drove in three players. 

Ellie Youngs (‘23) then tripled on a hard hit ball to the right side, making the overall score 11-0 Mavericks. 

Pitcher Joslynn Veltien (23’) kept the Northridge Grizzlies at no runs scored with eight total strikeouts and four runners left on base. When asked what the biggest contributing factor to the win was she said, “It was definitely the defense and shut down pitching. We also had some pretty good clutch hits in our game.”

The Mavericks secured their first win against Northridge, ending the game in the fifth inning. 

Golden won their game against Northfield 9-1. They then played Mead for their second game.

The game against the Golden Demons was intense as both dugouts were loud enough that it was impossible to make out the plays that coaches were calling out on either side.

It was a scoreless game for the first four innings. Both teams left runners on base with opportunities to drive in runs. 

The bottom of the fifth inning started out with Jorja Haskin (‘23) reaching first on a hard ground ball to the pitcher. She then continued to steal second base and advanced to third after a bunt by second baseman Izzy Campbell (‘23). 

The Demons called a timeout after two outs had been made on the Mavericks, and then chose to intentionally walk Wiescamp (‘23). Bases were then loaded with one more out to finish the inning.

Dusza (‘23) steps up the plate. In the moment she said, “Of course I could feel the pressure, but the support I could hear from my coaches and teammates put me at ease. I was focused on driving the pitch the way it was thrown to allow my teammates to score.”

Dusza (‘23) hit a hard line drive up the middle to score two runs for the Mavericks. After pushing in the first runs of the game, she said, “The feeling was electric, I was so relieved that I was given the opportunity to step into that position and give some run support to our pitcher.”

Third baseman Nikki Ward (‘25) then singled to the pitcher. This drove in another run for the girls. The score was 3-0 Mavericks. 

The game was flipped to the next inning and Mead continued to keep the pressure on Golden’s team, only allowing one player to get on base in the last two innings. 

The game ended with a ground out to shortstop Rademacher (‘25). After the ball was caught at first base, the girls erupted in cheers as they ran towards each other. They had just won their regional tournament and were beyond thrilled to be headed to state. 

Coach Macaluso, head coach for the Mead Mavericks said, “It feels really incredible to win on such an important stage and doing it at home makes it so much more special. I see our team taking it one game at a time and working together to continue making this a season to remember.”

The Mead Mavericks are set to play Pueblo West this Friday 12:15 p.m. at Aurora Sports Park.