Softball: F-FC pitcher helps spoil senior day at Rampart

Tori Herzberg and her Fountain-Fort Carson teammates put a damper on Rampart’s final home game Thursday with a 7-1 victory.

Herzberg surrendered eight hits — all singles — but no walks and only one earned run.

“This was a really big win,” said Herzberg, who had an RBI single and scored a run. “It was one of our best games all-around. It wasn’t my best game, but it was above average.”

Fountain-Fort Carson (10-6, 6-3 in 5A Metro) solidified its hopes of reaching the playoffs in a tough league. Players from Pikes Peak No. 1 Rampart (9-7, 6-2) were filled with disappointment.

“It’s devastating to lose your ‘Senior Game,’ and I don’t think we have a chance to win the league now,” said senior second baseman Sam Talmich, who had two hits and a pair of outstanding defensive plays.

Talmich was impressed with Herzberg.

“She’s one of the fastest pitchers we’ve seen this year,” she said.

Mandi Coleman had a single, double, two RBIs and a run for the Trojans while Renata Rankin had two singles, a walk and a run. Each delivered an RBI single in the first inning and Megan Vaars made it 3-0 with an RBI double to the fence in the fourth.

Katie Londo had three hits for Rampart and scored on Rachel Forrest’s single in the fifth to get within 4-1, but Trojans sophomore center fielder Lauryn Chase, who had two hits, stroked an RBI single in the sixth.

“We’re a better hitting team than we showed this week,” said Rams coach Becki Pepper, whose team lost 7-4 at Pine Creek on Tuesday. “(Herzberg) threw well, though. We got a few hits, but she didn’t let us string anything together.”

Fountain-Fort Carson coach Ron Wilson was pleased with his team’s performance.

“Two things we take pride in,” he said, “are that we pitch well and play good defense. We did both of those today.”