Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The Hoopa players and coaches celebrate their playoff win over Swett last week.

By Ray Hamill — The Hoopa Warriors’ season may have ended in softball, but the impact the players had lives on.

The Hoopa girls saw their season end in a disappointing 18-0 loss at Del Norte on Friday evening as they bowed out of the North Coast Section Division-4 playoffs.

But a team that features a core group of young players should be back as strong as ever next spring, as the most successful H-DNL program in NCS softball history looks to add to its haul of recent trophies.

And after the weekend loss, first-year head coach Jordee Colegrove-Avery expressed her appreciation for what her players achieved this season and what they meant to Hoopa softball.

“As a first-year head coach, this has been a wonderful experience,” she said. “It really revamped my love for the game. This group of young ladies that I had the privilege of coaching was a great first year.

“I had a lot of fun watching them improve day in and day out.”

The Warriors, who placed second to St. Bernard’s in the Little 4, were a Division-4 NCS team for the second straight season this year after being bumped up following their back-to-back NCS championships in 2019 and 2022 (there were no NCS playoffs in 2020 or 2021 because of COVID-19).

And for the second straight spring they won their playoff opener despite having to play against far larger schools, including an impressive 11-6 over Swett last week.

Two days later they fell short against Del Norte — without doubt the best H-DNL team this year — in the NCS quarterfinals, but the players continued to battle despite the lopsided score.

“(That) makes me excited for these young ladies in the years to come,” the head coach added. “With a group that was primarily sophomores they only have room to improve as long as they continue to want it.

“And I suspect within the next couple of years they’ll continue to be stronger and a force to look out for.”

The entire roster, according to the coach, worked hard all spring despite battling the weather and finding it hard to get in the necessary outdoor practices early in the campaign, and that perseverance paid off down the stretch.

“They came to practice, they made time to improve on the last mistake and pushed themselves to be better by the next game,” Colegrove-Avery said.

The five seniors — Bella Valentine, Kishan Dean, Brooklyn Kurtz, Ava Jackson and Rianna Bain — in particular set the tone.

“My seniors, I’m so proud of,” the coach said. “All of their hard work really proved their leadership skills, and showing the rest of the underclassmen that the amount of work you put into yourself definitely shows in your game days.”

Colegrove-Avery is already looking forward to next season and is confident the Warriors can challenge once again for a conference championship.

“I cannot wait to see the future of HVHS Warrior softball, and wouldn’t be surprised if they come back and take league next year,” she said. “They’re a group that wants to come in and make improvements in their every day game.”

Submitted photo – The Hoopa seniors