Brad Cochi From the Colorado Dugout: Kringlen, Holy Family bats stay hot against Erie to power Tigers into final four

By Brad Cochi
Northern Colorado Senior Writer

COLORADO SPRINGS – There was no hotter hitter throughout the opening weekend of the Class 4A state tournament than Holy Family 2019 Collin Kringlen.

In three games, the 6-foot-5 senior went 8-for-12 at the plate and drove in eight runs for the Tigers. At UCHealth Park on Saturday, Kringlen went 4-for-4 with his third home run of the state tournament’s opening two days – sixth of the season – and his effort helped pace a 13-2 win over Erie.  

The win pushed the Tigers through to the final weekend of the state tournament as one of the four remaining clubs. When the final two days of the state tournament are held May 31-June 1 back at UCHealth Park, the Holy Family faithful will certainly be hoping Kringlen (Colorado School of Mines) stays as hot has he has been.

“Collin has been solid for us all year, but we’ve been waiting for him and a couple guys in our lineup to really, really get hot,” Holy Family coach Marc Cowell said. “And it happened this weekend at the most perfect time.”

Kringlen wasn’t the only Holy Family (22-6) hitter to have a big weekend.

Holy Family 2019 Davis Martinek, who missed sat out the three weeks leading up to state with an injury, went 7-for-10 in the Tigers’ first three state tournament games while batting in the nine-hole. Against Tri-Valley League rival Erie (16-12) on Saturday, the senior was 3-for-3 with three RBIs.

“On my days off, I just kept working out with the team, conditioning with them and keeping my head up even though I wasn’t out there doing it,” Martinek said. “And then I would do some work on my own and I just felt like I had my entire team behind me. So coming back and playing just felt natural to me, like I never skipped a beat.”

Also against Erie, Holy Family 2021 Connor Cooney went 2-for-2 and 2019 Zach Becker drove in three runs. 2019 Matthew Delgado scored three runs and starting pitcher 2019 Jacob McFarland allowed two runs on seven hits while striking out six batters in five innings for the Tigers, who posted six runs apiece in the third and fifth innings to end Saturday’s game early.

Erie won 11-6 over Golden in the morning game at UCCS, scoring 11 runs in the first five innings to back ace 2019 Jon Thoren on the mound. Erie 2020 Nolan Marthaler and 2020 Trey Rearick both homered in the game.

Against Holy Family, Erie 2021 Greyson Schenbeck and 2020 Gavin Mendoza both went 2-for-3 at the plate.

Despite having their coach dismissed, the Tigers won 11 of their final 13 games leading up to the state tournament, including a regional title. Volunteer head coach Craig McBride was impressed with how the team responded to undergoing a coaching change five games into the season and making a deep playoff run.

“Well, they have a lot of guts,” McBride said. 

Holy Family 13, Erie 2

At UCHealth Park

Holy Family (22-6) 016 06 – 13 13 0

Erie (16-12) 000 20 – 2 7 2

W – McFarland. L – Rearick.

Holy family hitting (ab-r-h-rbi) – McGowan 3-0-0-0, Baker 2-2-0-0, Becker 4-1-1-3, Kringlen 4-2-4-3, Callaway 4-0-1-1, Delgado 2-3-1-0, King 3-1-1-0, Cooney 2-2-2-2, Martinek 3-2-3-3, Perez 0-0-0-0, McFarland 0-0-0-0. Totals 27-13-13-12. 2B – Callaway, King, Kringlen, Martinek. HR – Kringlen. SB –Becker, Kringlen, Martinek.

Erie hitting (ab-r-h-rbi) – Ball 3-0-1-0, Phillips 3-0-0-0, Mendoza 3-0-2-0, Marthaler 3-1-1-1, Schenbeck 3-0-2-1, Thoren 2-0-1-0, Rearick 2-0-0-0, Fuhrmann 2-0-0-0, Hewell 1-0-0-0, Veve 0-1-0-0, Khanna 0-0-0-0. Totals 22-2-7-2. 2B – Marthaler.

Holy Family pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) – McFarland 5-7-2-2-1-6.

Erie hitting (ab-r-h-rbi) – Rearick 3-6-7-6-5-3, Marthaler 2-7-6-6-1-0.