Chaffee finish historic softball season at state championship game

Chaffee softball's historic season ends with 2nd place finish

Under the threat of weather, the Class 2 semifinal and championship game occurred on the same day.

For the Chaffee softball team, Friday, Oct. 27, started with the thrill of victory but ended with the agony of defeat.

“We played at 1:30 p.m. So we had a good break to 7:30 p.m., and with the weather that we just left in Springfield, it was the right decision,” Chaffee coach Brian Horrell said. “I don't think it affected us.”

The Red Devils defeated the Linn Wildcats 4-1 to advance to their first-ever state championship game, where they fell to the Carrollton Trojans 4-3 in a game that came down to the final swing.

“We were able to battle a very good team and we fought until the very end,” Horrell said. “On the last pitch of the game, we hit a bullet, we couldn't hit the ball any harder than they could with the tying run on third and just have to be right back at the pitcher.”

The Red Devils were playing catchup throughout the game but kept it close with RBIs from Ayne Held, Paige Wilhite, and Addison Uhrhan.

Freshman star Carlyanne Cossou pitched the entirety of both games for the Red Devils. She gave up only one run on five hits, and five walks, and struck out three batters against Linn while adding an RBI single. After starting that game down 1-0 in the first inning, the Red Devils took control of the game in the third inning thanks to a two-run double by Reese Van Pelt and an RBI single by Bailey Robertson. Van Pelt led the Red Devils with 38 RBI and batted .402 on the season.

Cossou was the MVP of the Red Devils. The freshman ace went 14-4 with a 1.95 ERA and 142 strikeouts over 115.1 innings and also batted .402 at the plate.

“A lot of times in softball when you have a young pitcher coming up, a lot of times she'll go through all four years of high school,” Horrell said. “We knew coming in this year we had another special pitcher to add to our stable. Reese Van Pelt, who pitched every pitch for us the last few years, had a rotator cuff injury so she wasn't able to do much pitching this year. So it was a blessing to get Carly but she was definitely special.”

Paizleigh Graham was another freshman who led the way for the Red Devils. She batted .355 in 76 at-bats with two home runs and 34 RBI. Her seven RBIs pushed the Red Devils past the Rangers of Iberia in the quarterfinal round of the Class 2 Tournament.

“Graham pretty well put us on her back in the quarterfinal game against a great Iberia team," Horrell said. "We needed every one of them to get past a very solid Iberia team just to get to where we were going."

The Red Devils finished with a 21-7 record, which tops the previous final four seasons of 2017 (18-13) and 2015 (15-15). A big reason behind their success this season is team chemistry.

"We have a good influx of freshmen this year to go along with some seniors and a couple of juniors. The girls seemed to gel early on, that was the biggest thing, that the seniors were able to get the team united and they gelled together. There wasn't a lot of jealousy. We worked hard. We put the best ones out there, and we competed every day."

Another reason why Chaffee's 21-7 record is impressive is the degree of difficulty with the schedule.

"We play a tough schedule," Horrell said. "Out of our seven losses, two are against Jackson, a quarterfinal team, two against Notre Dame, one against Farmington, and another was a nine-inning game, and the (state championship game). So these girls have been battle-tested."

As historic as this season is for the Red Devils, finishing in the state championship game while being led by freshman phenoms was seen as a realistic aspiration by the team from the beginning.

"This is the third time in eight years that our softball program has made the final four, so we have high expectations, Horrell said. "Actually, I can visualize us being here."