{"id":22150,"date":"2025-05-22T17:53:07","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T17:53:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-sends-off-state-bound-baseball-team-in-style\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T04:11:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:11:41","slug":"cortez-sends-off-state-bound-baseball-team-in-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-sends-off-state-bound-baseball-team-in-style\/","title":{"rendered":"Cortez sends off state-bound baseball team in style"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A
A group of Panther supporters cheer as they greet the line of first responders on West Main Street during Thursday morning\u2019s send-off. (Kaitlyn Lowley\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Enthusiastic crowds gathered across Cortez to send their best wishes to the Montezuma-Cortez baseball team on a bright and early Thursday morning.<\/p>\n

This marks the second time in three years that the Panthers have returned to Butch Butler Field in Greeley, and community support was strong. Parents gathered in the main parking lot of M-CHS as the team prepared to load the bus.<\/p>\n

The Cortez Police Department, Fire Protection District, and other first responders led the procession. The M-CHS band played as the Panthers made their way from the school\u2019s front entrance to the bus. Seniors Brady Dale, Bobby Likes, and Samson Lein followed in style, arriving in a sleek black vintage Porsche to trail their teammates to the end of West Main Street.<\/p>\n

\"Seniors
Seniors Brady Dale (driver), Bobby Likes (middle), and Samson Lein (passenger) follow behind the team in a vintage Porsche as part of the Thursday morning send-off. The three will graduate later that day before joining their teammates at the state tournament on Friday. (Kaitlyn Lowley\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Members
Members of the Cortez Fire Protection District line up in front of M-CHS as they prepare to escort the Panthers out of town en route to Greeley on Thursday morning. (Kaitlyn Lowley\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The M-CHS band leads the baseball team from the front entrance of the high school to the bus during the Thursday morning send-off. (Kaitlyn Lowley\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Although Dale, Likes, and Lein will join their teammates at the tournament on Friday, they will first cross the graduation stage at M-CHS on Thursday evening.<\/p>\n

The Panthers face a tough path in their side of the state tournament bracket, opening against No. 4 Resurrection Christian in the first round. Their half of the bracket also features top-seeded University, which will play No. 8 Valley.<\/p>\n

Despite entering the tournament on a 13-game winning streak and carrying a regional title, Dale said the Panthers plan to stick with the team-first mindset that has driven their success all season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat else are you going to do than go out and play your best, and try your hardest,\u201d Dale said. \u201cYou can\u2019t worry about what you\u2019re going to do than just go and do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dale also recognized the support from the community, particularly the parents who have showed up all season.<\/p>\n

\u201cBig thanks to all the moms who\u2019ve been helping us out and all the people who cheer us on and supported us. The games are always packed which we appreciate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Head coach Jake Huff said he\u2019s seen his team, especially the upperclassmen, embrace leadership roles and lead by example.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur top guys have been leading and performing by example. On and off the field. We had a number of kids get academic all-state,\u201d Huff said. \u201cOur seniors and juniors have stepped up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Junior Cory Carver leads the team in nearly every offensive statistical category, with fellow junior Darren Daves close behind.<\/p>\n

On defense, junior Parker Conrad has been a steady presence, appearing in all 25 games with a perfect fielding percentage and 37 putouts. Cory Carver has matched that consistency with 25 appearances of his own, recording a .962 fielding percentage and 43 putouts. Senior Samson Lein has also played a key role, contributing in 23 games with a .889 fielding percentage and 18 putouts.<\/p>\n

Individual efforts have been matched by community backing, and Huff said he appreciates how Cortez has supported the team throughout the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis community has embraced our baseball team and they\u2019ve shown up when we\u2019re at home and even show up when we\u2019re on the road,\u201d said Huff. \u201cThe support we received has been outstanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Panthers play in first round action against Resurrection Christian on Friday at noon and if they win, they continue into the second round to play the winner between University and Valley at 2:30 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Community rallies to cheer Montezuma-Cortez ahead of state tournament<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22151,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[470,28,36,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-22150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-baseball","tag-headlines","tag-montezuma-cortez-high-school","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22150"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77594,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22150\/revisions\/77594"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22150"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=22150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}