'They are gritty': Pueblo East Eagles hope to host playoffs for first time in 10 years

Losing the backbone of the team usually results in a down year for a program.

For the Pueblo East Eagles, after losing many of their seniors from the year before, the team is still winning and doing so at a high clip.

The Eagles are poised to make a playoff run, but their ultimate goal is to host a game for the first time in almost ten years.

More: Pueblo Softball Hall of Fame to introduce four new members for its 2024 class

“We have a junior and four seniors, but the starting lineup is majority sophomores and they're doing well,” head coach Nick Marfitano said. “This is the first 15-win season in East High School since 2014 when they hosted the playoffs. We have a few more games and I think we have a really good shot at hosting the playoffs.”

To achieve something like this would be big for the young program.

“Our number one right now is David Casillas. I mean he's our guy. But his brother, Matt Casillas, who's a senior, has absolutely taken the reins. It's his team. He organizes it. He gets them up. Our catcher, Jeremiah Ortega is one of our few second-year letter winners. We played a lot of freshmen last year, our playoff game last year, we had four starters that were freshmen, including one on the mound. So, this is a special group. They are gritty, they're grimy, they get nasty and they love to compete. That's why we're where we're at because they love to compete. It's fun.”

Additionally, Marfitano added that Aron Ruiz-Salcido, Jacob Vondersmith, Javen Sisneros and Jayden Rangel have all also had big contributions to the team this year with all of them being sophomores except for Rangel who is a junior.

The team has fully embraced the idea of being a hard-nosed team, fighting for every ball and every run.

“We're just gritty and we get nasty,” Marfitano said. “That's all it comes down to, because all these teams, especially in our league, are good. The schedule that we have is a tough schedule. We have quality opponents in lower divisions, but then we have teams that we will battle with if we make it to the state playoffs, they're going to be there, and we've been battling there the whole time.”

The team also understands that just winning the South-Central League will be a tough task as well with teams like Pueblo County and Pueblo West neck and neck with the Eagles for the title. But their focus is still on their main goal.

More: 'Play together for each other': Pueblo South baseball works on becoming a unit

“County, they're gritty as heck too. They have a lot of great athletes, and they got a taste of the state playoffs last year, so they know what it's about too,” Marfitano said. “Our league is tough so to win our league, we would feel really good about that, and we would put ourselves in a position to get that done. We want to host the playoffs and we want to win the league. Then it takes one good Saturday to win two games and then you are in the state playoffs. Then after that, let's go.”

The Eagles are 15-6 on the season with a 7-2 record in the S-CL, which puts them in second place behind Pueblo County. They have one more game against the Hornets before the end of the season which could result in a share of the league title.

The team is led by David Casillas, who is batting .414, and Ruiz-Salcido, who leads the team in RBIs with 15. Davis Casillas is also leading the team in pitching with a 2.13 ERA and posting a record of 5-1.

Christopher Abdelmalek is a sports reporter for the Pueblo Chieftain and can be reached at cabdelmalek@gannett.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @chowebacca. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: 'They are gritty': Pueblo East Eagles hope to host playoffs for first time in 10 years