With one runner on and two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning of last season’s Class 5A softball state title game, Broomfield trailed Cherokee Trail 1-0. Up to the dish stepped senior Linnie Malkin, an Arkansas commit who would go on to be named the 2016 Colorado Gatorade Player of the Year.
Malkin took a big hack and just missed her pitch, flying out to the fence to give Cherokee Trail the win. The Eagles’ season — in which they were pegged as the title favorite after running the table to the Front Range League championship — had come to a crushing end.
“We learned how hard it is to get to the state championship, and how much work and effort it takes,” 11th-year Broomfield coach Paula Seifried said. “And now, there’s a lot of learning to be done this year in order to get back to that point.”
This fall, No. 10 Broomfield is hungry to make a push for the program’s first title once again, albeit sans an eight-player senior class that featured Malkin — whose 35 runs batted in and 11 homers will be tough to replace — as well as the classification’s pitching leader in wins, earned run average and strikeouts in University of Arizona freshman Taylor Gilmore.
“We have a lot of underclassmen on the team and even our upperclassmen haven’t gotten a lot of playing time before this,” Seifried said. “But the new starters on this team are excited to be able to showcase what they can do and how they can pull this team together throughout the season with their own, unique identity.”
Replacing Gilmore in the circle is a two-player rotation featuring junior Lauren Klein and freshman Kenzi Garner, while senior first baseman Maddison Wagner and senior outfielder Lainey Hughes headline the offense for the Eagles (1-2).
But early-season losses to Silver Creek and Ralston Valley already proved there’s a sharp learning curve for Broomfield, which is set to be tested again in the Erie Tournament of Champions this weekend against Oklahoma prep powers Sequoyah and Union.
“Playing good teams like that right away gives our new players an idea of what varsity softball at a high level is all about, and it’s a good prequel to us starting our conference schedule,” Seifried said. “We’ll get out all the bugs we have, and learn perseverance and teamwork as well.”
And in a season with so many underclassmen in key positions, Seifried emphasized the importance of team chemistry should the Eagles wish to defend their Front Range League titles against the likes of No. 2 Fossil Ridge (Sept. 19), No. 9 Fort Collins (Sept. 26) and No. 5 Legacy (Sept. 28) en route to the state tournament Oct. 21 and 22 at Aurora Sports Park.
“The chemistry is already there, which is great,” Seifried said. “It’s just going to be a process for our team to consistently do the little things that make a game go your way, because that’s what made the difference for us down the road to the state tournament last year.”
