{"id":25498,"date":"2024-10-02T13:43:55","date_gmt":"2024-10-02T19:43:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-cortez-seniors-bring-home-another-league-championship\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T05:18:51","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:18:51","slug":"montezuma-cortez-seniors-bring-home-another-league-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-cortez-seniors-bring-home-another-league-championship\/","title":{"rendered":"Montezuma-Cortez seniors bring home another league championship"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"M-CHS
M-CHS senior Aubrey Rutherford hangs on as she falls to the ground after catching the ball for an out in a contest at Englehart Field against Delta. Sam Green\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

The Class of 2025 holds a special place in the heart of Anthony \u201cHippo\u201d Frost, head coach of the Panthers softball team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve known some of these girls since they were really young,\u201d he said. \u201cA couple years ago, I was considering hanging up the coaching whistle, but these seniors convinced me to keep going \u2013 and that speaks volumes about what I think of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Panthers
Panthers senior Emily Carver rounds second after hitting a double in a contest at Englehart Field against Delta High School. Sam Green\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

It made Tuesday\u2019s contest against Delta that much more emotional for the half-dozen seniors, their family and friends, and the coach who has witnessed tremendous growth over their high school careers. While M-CHS fell 5-3 in their regular season finale at Englehart Field to the visiting Panthers, M-CHS (13-9, 9-3 3A WSL) could still celebrate a Western Slope League title as they honored their departing class after the contest.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re fun to be around and they\u2019re coachable \u2013 there\u2019s a give and take between the players and I, and we respect each other,\u201d added Frost.<\/p>\n

Each player contributed in their own way, according to Frost. Nevaeh Istenes returned from a leg injury in her junior year to put together a productive senior season, while Abigail Coffey and Julia West became anchoring components of the Panthers outfield. Aubrey Rutherford enjoyed a power surge at the plate for the Panthers, while Emily Carver enjoyed another productive year at the dish and behind the plate as the starting catcher. Devyn Cornett led the team in the circle as the staff ace and in numerous statistical categories on offense.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach year we\u2019ve grown,\u201d said Rutherford of the four-year journey, \u201cfrom the team dinners to the bus rides, we\u2019ve been able to get to know each other and have fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"M-CHS
M-CHS senior Devyn Cornett winds up for a pitch in a contest at Englehart Field against Delta. Sam Green\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cBeing league champs means a lot \u2013 it\u2019s something that we\u2019ve always been working toward,\u201d said Cornett, \u201cand it started with summer ball, we\u2019ve always been with each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

The focus now shifts to the postseason, where this group looks to learn their regional opponent in the coming weeks, with regional round play slated for Saturday, Oct. 19. The Panthers hope for at least one win in the regional rounds, which would place M-CHS in the state tournament for the first time since 2021.<\/p>\n

In that 2021 campaign, most of the current Panthers were playing junior varsity, and their journey since then has brought numerous highs and lows that galvanized the squad for their final run together.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur focus every year is to be league champs,\u201d said Frost, whose five-year tenure as head coach included three league titles and the program\u2019s first ever win in the state tournament, \u201cand once the girls saw that the season was starting to come to an end, they shifted gears and really came together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"M-CHS
M-CHS sophomore Annalisa Abeyta snags a pop-up in a contest at Englehart Field against Delta. Sam Green\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cHaving Hippo as a coach is something that we\u2019ve all loved, and we\u2019ve been able to develop a bond with him,\u201d said Rutherford about her head coach, before Cornett added, \u201che\u2019s really easy to talk to \u2013 and even when he\u2019s hard on us, he does it in a way that shows that he cares about us \u2013 and it\u2019s because he wants us to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

After a difficult stretch in early September left the Panthers sitting below .500, the seniors jolted to life in the final stretch of the month, winning six in a row to vault into first place \u2013 a spot they wouldn\u2019t relinquish. Defense and pitching played a large part in the run, as the Panthers have posted their fewest runs allowed per game since their last state appearance in \u201921.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I let go of the ball, I know that if it\u2019s hit and defendable, I trust that the play\u2019s going to be made,\u201d said Cornett, \u201cit takes a lot of pressure off me in the circle.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the journey continues for a few more weeks, the Panthers have plenty of chapters still left to write in their softball careers. More importantly, they\u2019ll share their story together. \u201cEven when we have our ups and downs, we\u2019re still a family,\u201d concluded Rutherford.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

M-CHS softball team claims third WSL title in past four years<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25499,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[38,39,28,37,36],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-25498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dolores-high-school","tag-dove-creek-high-school","tag-headlines","tag-mancos-high-school","tag-montezuma-cortez-high-school"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25498","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=25498"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78964,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25498\/revisions\/78964"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25498"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=25498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}