Christie Zinanti has left the building.
The high-velocity strikeout virtuoso headlined Pueblo West’s back-to-back Class 4A state softball championship seasons. But Zinanti graduated and will play for BYU. In her absence, a horde of teams is swarming to the spotlight, including the Berthoud Spartans.
“If we have a shot of winning state, it’s this year,” Berthoud coach Dick Klocek said. “We started them young, and this will be pretty much the same lineup we’ve had (for four years). All of them play summer ball, and most of them can be plugged in wherever we need them.”
A group of eight players – five sophomores and three freshmen – led the Spartans to an 18-5 record with a state quarterfinals appearance two seasons ago. Last season, it was another trip to the quarterfinals and a 20-3 record.
Those successes have led to a feeling around Berthoud that now is the time to take the next two steps and get the school’s first softball title.
“State is always our goal. We keep going farther and farther in the playoffs, and I have no doubt about any of our players, so we are really excited,” senior catcher Alisa Heronema said.
Berthoud has put together a talented and experienced lineup despite drawing from one of the classification’s smallest student bodies.
The outfield is secure with upperclassmen Lauryn Smith, Brittany Fiske and Katie Allen, and the battery of pitcher Kassie Haubert and Heronema is one of the best around. Jasmine Cervantes, perhaps the most celebrated Spartan, anchors the infield at third base.
The Spartans play in the deep, 16-team Northern League, which put four teams into the quarterfinals last season (Berthoud, Broomfield, Greeley West and Niwot), so surviving league play will be the first challenge.
One of the teams standing in the way of Berthoud’s dream season is Cherokee Trail, a rapidly growing school in its fourth year that is heavier with upperclassmen than even Berthoud. Seven seniors dominate the roster, and nine players with a combined 16 years of starting varsity experience return after a 21-3 season that ended in the state semifinals.
Senior Brooke Bails will be a four-year starter who moves from catcher to shortstop, and starting pitcher Stephanie Thurston can do damage from the mound and the plate. The Cougars, who are unmatched in the growing Skyline League, play a schedule stocked with top 5A teams and start the season atop The Denver Post/9News 4A poll.
Mullen, runner-up last season and always a force, lost six starters but returns the classification’s top pitcher in Bianca Holley (16-1 record, 0.60 ERA in 2005). Also, all of those slots vacated by graduation will be filled with players from a junior varsity team that dropped just one game in two seasons.
Pueblo, a softball hotbed, again could put four schools from every direction into the playoffs.
Pueblo West’s loss of Zinanti will be tempered by the return of a sturdy infield and a stable of young arms looking to move into the starting role.
“You don’t get someone like Christie very often, but we have some pitchers that will keep us in the game,” said Pueblo West coach Bob Zinanti, Christie’s father.
Pueblo East will have to deal with the retirement of coach Ben Garcia, who kept the Eagles at or near the top of South Central League for 15 years, as well of the competition from Pueblo South and Pueblo Central.
Liberty should be the class of the Colorado Springs Metro League, with a mass of experienced talent returning. Seniors Amanda Hathaway and Mandy Pounds provide the Lancers a wicked 1-2 pitching punch.
Rifle should head a more even field on the Western Slope with Eagle Valley, Delta and Palisade, as well as Montezuma- Cortez in the Southwestern. Thomas Jefferson is its own best competition in 4A Denver Prep, and another five- or six-team logjam atop the league standings is possible in Jeffco.
