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A familiar star at the helm

Rodriguez leads DHS softball to fast start in 2014

Two wins and one loss led to quite the opening weekend for Durango High School softball.

Fortunately for the Demons, their one loss came off the field.

The DHS Demons picked up two wins in Pueblo against Dolores Huerta Prep before heading back home toward the Western Slope. On the way home, the team’s bus broke down, forcing the team to wait for help to arrive and delaying their return home until 12:30 a.m.

Welcome to high school coaching, Chelsea Rodriguez.

Rodriguez, a standout with the Fort Lewis College softball team, accepted the head coaching job at DHS shortly after her playing career with the Skyhawks came to an end. Rodriguez ranks as the FLC career leader in fielding assists (425), hits (204), home runs (42), runs (174), runs batted in (147), total bases (373) and walks (140) while finishing her four-year career with a .397 batting average.

She replaced Michael Cioppa as the Demons’ head coach. Cioppa coached DHS for just one season.

“I’m sad that my playing days are over, but it is a whole new ball game coaching,” Rodriguez said. “I’m passionate about it, just as much as I was as a player. I’m seeing a new side of the game I haven’t seen my whole life.”

The Demons channeled Rodriguez’s hitting ability in their first two games Saturday, winning 14-1 and 29-3.

“I was a big hitter in college, but the kind of hitter I was more about consistency than power,” Rodriguez said. “That’s how I’m coaching these girls now. I want them to hit the ball into gaps and have the homers be accidents.”

The Demons racked up their runs on of doubles and singles, with a few triples mixed in, too.

Rodriguez was pleased with the hitting of Augusta Brockus, Katelyn DeLuche, Mercedes Lashway, Paige Mazur and Alexys Vidunas.

“Our main focus is getting on base and finding holes, and the girls did a great job of that. We want to win games on the bases with good base running,” Rodriguez said.

Brockus and Vidunas will split the majority of the time in the pitcher’s circle for DHS this season.

“(Brockus) and Vidunas are a great 1-2 punch. They are both great pitchers and defensive players when not pitching,” Rodriguez said. “It is hard to say one is an ace, because both can bring it when we need.”

At just 22 years old, Rodriguez said she can relate to the players and have more fun with them than perhaps some other coaches could. After such a stellar collegiate career, now she is turning her attention to helping the DHS players find way for softball to help them continue their education at the next level.

“We have a handful of girls really wanting to pursue college ball, and I am helping them get there any way I can,” she said. “I’m tying in what it takes to get recruited and those college ball aspirations into our regular practice. I want to see the girls be confident in themselves on and off the field. Female athletes, or any athlete for that matter, need to develop that confidence on the field, in the classroom and in the outside world.”

The Demons (2-0) will play their first home game of the season Tuesday against Montezuma-Cortez at Aspen Field on the FLC campus, the same field Rodriguez reigned supreme on for four years. The Panthers enter the game with a 1-2 record.

“I’m really excited to get back up there,” Rodriguez said of Aspen Field. “To think back on the good time I had up there, I’m really excited the girls get to play up there, too. I made some history on the field there, and I want these girls on the high school team to make some of their own history.

“They want to make a name for Durango High softball.”

jlivingston@durangoherald.com



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