{"id":26926,"date":"2024-06-29T00:08:21","date_gmt":"2024-06-29T00:08:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/dolores-youth-baseball-team-building-community-melting-pot\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T05:47:59","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:47:59","slug":"dolores-youth-baseball-team-building-community-melting-pot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/dolores-youth-baseball-team-building-community-melting-pot\/","title":{"rendered":"Dolores youth baseball team building community melting pot"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The
The Dolores Bears U15 Little League team brought together student-athletes from four area schools to build a strong summer ball squad. The Bears finished second at a tournament in Durango in mid-June. The roster includes Dolores\u2019 Levi Hampton, Branson Lee, Gus Vaughn, Orin Samulski, Declan Warren and Tucker Crites, Dove Creek\u2019s Trevan Ivie, Josh Kibel, Konner Spigner and Cael Beanland, Mancos\u2019 Zhander Higgins and Traycer White, and Zye Kuenzler from Montezuma-Cortez. (Photo courtesy of Kellen Gatzke)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

DOLORES \u2013 Most nights, Joe Rowell Park in Dolores serves as the backdrop for a cacophony of pinging bats and dugout chatter from youth baseball teams of all ages.<\/p>\n

With the return of high school baseball this past spring, the Dolores Bears U15 Little League team serves as a prime illustration of how a unified effort can ultimately improve several different high school programs.<\/p>\n

\"Mancos\u2019
Mancos\u2019 Zhander Higgins, pitching for Dolores Bears U15 Little League squad, fires an offering in a contest at Joe Rowell Park in Dolores. The Dolores Bears U15 Little League team has brought together student-athletes from four area schools to build a strong summer ball squad. (Ben Bradley\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Bears, led by Dolores alum Kellen Gatzke, showcased athletes from area schools \u2013 including Montezuma-Cortez, Dove Creek and Mancos \u2013 along with a half-dozen Bears who are following up on their spring season.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can see their bond growing via their fluidity in their play together,\u201d Gatzke said. \u201cWe might be playing under the name \u2018Dolores,\u2019 but we\u2019ve been blessed with the unique opportunity to unify our entire area.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dolores recently navigated a tough field in Durango to take home second place. The Bears filled their schedule with contests against other Four Corners squads.<\/p>\n

\"Dove
Dove Creek\u2019s Trevan Ivie, playing for the Dolores Bears U15 Little League team, connects with a pitch in a game at Joe Rowell Field in Dolores. The Dolores Bears U15 Little League team has brought together student-athletes from four area schools to build a strong summer ball squad. (Ben Bradley\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

On a team of mostly underclassmen at their respective schools, plenty of players have upped their game, expecting to play increased roles within their varsity programs this upcoming school year.<\/p>\n

Among the collection of rising stars, Dove Creek sophomore Cael Beanland has followed up his breakout freshman season for the state semifinalist Bulldogs with a stellar summer campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got great baseball knowledge whether it\u2019s on the mound, at the plate, or in the field,\u201d Gatzke said of Beanland. \u201cHe\u2019s going to be a huge part of Dove Creek\u2019s success going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beanland pounded the ball in their Bears\u2019 successful trip to Durango, and he looks to be an impact pitcher for the Bulldogs next spring.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been working on my velocity and good breaking balls, including a curve and sweeping slider,\u201d said Beanland.<\/p>\n

He went to All-Star Park in Lakewood this past May to play in the 1A state tournament, getting a taste for what he hopes will be plenty of future trips.<\/p>\n

Although many of his teammates were different, the focus is still the same for Beanland.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to carry over the winning mindset, and I feel like our team has done pretty well achieving that goal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

That success extends to other programs as well, where some internal competition within the Bears has brought out the best in each program.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the best parts of baseball at this age is the school rivalries and excitement of going after state championships,\u201d said Gatzke, who also serves as assistant coach for the fledgling DHS program. \u201cSo that\u2019s helped create a desire for them to work hard over the summer to improve as players.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U15 squad gaining valuable experience while enjoying success<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26927,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[38,39,28,2428,37,36,346],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-26926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dolores-high-school","tag-dove-creek-high-school","tag-headlines","tag-high-school-baseball","tag-mancos-high-school","tag-montezuma-cortez-high-school","tag-sports"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26926","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=26926"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79520,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26926\/revisions\/79520"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26926"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=26926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}