COLORADO SPRINGS — It only takes one momentum swing to end a team’s season. Holy Family baseball learned that the hard way at UCHealth Park on Friday afternoon.
In the final game of the Class 4A state playoff consolation bracket — the winner of which would win a trip to the championship game — the top-seeded Tigers struggled to ignite their offense, eventually falling to No. 4 Golden in a 4-1 final. The loss, their second of the postseason, ended their 2023 season then and there.
The lone Holy Family run came by way of a triple to deep center from junior left fielder Rylan Cooney in the bottom of the sixth inning, but it was too little, too late for the Tigers. By that point, the Demons had already cursed them with all four of their runs.
The Tigers couldn’t reverse the tides that began to swell in the Demons’ favor from the third frame on, when Golden began to cause headaches for Holy Family starting pitcher Jacob Syverson. It ended its day with nine hits and three earned runs off of the man who’s served as Holy Family’s lifeblood all season long.
Syverson ended his senior season with a 1.41 ERA, a 10-1 record and 125 strikeouts through 69.1 innings.
“(Syverson) was always the motor that got everything going for us,” head coach Marc Cowell said. “You figure nine times out of 10, 10 times out of 10 when he’s on the mound, you got a chance to win the ballgame. You got to give Golden a lot of credit. They manufactured a couple runs early, and we just couldn’t quite make the adjustment at the plate. That’s all she wrote.”
The Demons got the ball rolling in the top of the second with a base hit from Daine Hart, but the real sparks didn’t come until the top of the third, when Noah Wicks doubled to right field, then scored himself two batters later with a base hit from Braeden McCarroll.
Holy Family’s Cole Kuszak attempts to tag out Golden’s Braeden McCarroll at second base during the Tigers’ Class 4A state tournament game at UCHealth Park in Colorado Springs on June 2, 2023. (Alissa Noe/BoCoPreps.com)
Holy Family’s Logan Seifarth secures an out in right field during the Tigers’ Class 4A state tournament game againt Golden at UCHealth Park in Colorado Springs on June 2, 2023. (Alissa Noe/BoCoPreps.com)
Holy Family’s Jayden Watts rounds first base after nabbing a base hit during the Tigers’ Class 4A state tournament game against Golden at UCHealth Park in Colorado Springs on June 2, 2023. (Alissa Noe/BoCoPreps.com)
Holy Family’s Jacob Syverson grounds out to Golden’s pitcher during the Tigers’ Class 4A state tournament game at UCHealth Park in Colorado Springs on June 2, 2023. (Alissa Noe/BoCoPreps.com)
Golden held onto that 3-0 lead through the next few frames until, in a baffling mishap in the top of the sixth, the Tigers gave up one up on a pickoff attempt at first base. Holy Family’s first baseman, about 15 feet back from the bag, missed the throw entirely. That allowed McCarroll to log one more run before the Tigers were able to get on the board.
The Tigers ended their season with a 23-4 record, securing quite the turnaround from a year earlier, when they finished 13-10 and missed the postseason entirely. While they’ll be saying goodbye to Syverson, Brian Elliott, Tommy Fritschen, Drew Federspiel, Giacomo Frank, Catcher Gladysh, Colton Pedro, Ryan Schellinger, Jack Krueger and Will Hughes, the returners hope this outcome will only fuel them for next year.
“I’m really proud of the team,” Cooney said. “We have the best chemistry of any team I’ve ever been in. We all love each other. I think that anybody in that dugout would die for each other. To even come here is a big accomplishment. I know some kids will want it back but sometimes you don’t win. … I think that we’re going to want it a lot more next year. Losing sucks. I hate to lose more than I love to win, but I think we’ll be back.”