In the regional round of the Class 1A state baseball tournament, the Dolores County High School Bulldogs fell to Caliche 3-0 on Saturday.
The Dove Creek team entered the tournament on the strength of both pitching and hitting, cruising past La Veta 15-5 and then trouncing Cotopaxi 20-1 in the district tournament in Alamosa on May 4. Neither strength carried through to the game at All-Star Park in Lakewood on Saturday.
Caliche’s time in the sun didn’t last long, as that team fell to Holly 12-2 later on Saturday.
Holly advances to the state finals this weekend, facing Fleming, who defeated Stratton 8-5.
However, according to the Denver Post, Klancey Krafka of Dove Creek finished his season at number 2 in the batting stats, with an on-base percentage of 770 and a batting average of .685. He was second only to Tyler Vandenbark of Fleming, who had 16 fewer plate appearances than Krafka’s 74.
The Bulldogs, under Head Coach Ken Soper, finished their regular season with a 5-4 conference record and a 16-7 record overall.