{"id":32110,"date":"2021-08-20T02:22:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-20T02:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-softball-rallies-past-durango\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T09:23:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:23:00","slug":"cortez-softball-rallies-past-durango","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-softball-rallies-past-durango\/","title":{"rendered":"Cortez softball rallies past Durango"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Lizzie
Lizzie Likes of Cortez-Montezuma High School throws a pitch to a Durango High School batter on Thursday at DHS. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Durango and Montezuma-Cortez were neck and neck for most of their softball contest on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The Panthers, however, scored three runs in the sixth to pull away from the Demons and eventually win the game, 8-4.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur team stays together and we\u2019re super tight,\u201d said Cortez head coach Anthony Frost when asked what the difference in the game was. \u201cWe just stayed out of our heads; the girls are starting to mature and not let a bad play get them down.\u201d<\/p>\n

After two scoreless innings, Cortez struck first with three runs in the third. Allie Kibel started things off with a single and then Lizzie Likes and Koral Jackson hit back-to-back doubles to put MCHS up 2-0. Later, Hailey Veach hit a bloop single to drive in one more run.<\/p>\n

Durango, however, roared back in the bottom of the inning to take the lead.<\/p>\n

Kelly Arthur walked and stole second. Then, after a wild pitch, Arthur ran to third and scored when the throw went into the outfield.<\/p>\n

Later in the inning, Alaysia Kremer crushed a home run over the center field fence to cut the lead to 3-2.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight when I hit I knew it (was a home run),\u201d Kremer said. \u201cI could feel the power off that ball \u2013 it was great.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Taiah
Taiah Wilson of Cortez-Montezuma High School puts the ball in play while playing Durango High School on Thursday at DHS.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

After that, Sydney Flores singled and Meah Mordecai hit a liner off the third baseman\u2019s glove. Mia Baguskas then hit a single to bring Flores home and tie the game, 3-3. Tehya Barnes finished the rally with a single that brought home Mordecai and gave DHS the lead, 4-3.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really proud of us for keeping it together and having a lot of positivity,\u201d Kremer said. \u201cWe got in that pitcher\u2019s head and scored some runs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carly Piccoli turned a double play for DHS in the fourth, snagging a line drive at second base and then getting the lead runner out at first.<\/p>\n

Likes and Jackson, however, each knocked in another run and Cortez took the lead back in the fourth, 5-4.<\/p>\n

Kremer walked in the bottom of the fourth and Mordecai singled in the fifth for DHS, but Cortez turned a double play and made a diving catch to help get out of those innings.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough we had runners reach base after that, we couldn\u2019t get them home,\u201d said DHS head coach John Bernazzani. \u201cI think Cortez\u2019s sticks made the difference hitting under pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cortez was able to pull away in the sixth with a Kibel single, doubles from Likes and Jackson and then a single from Taiah Wilson. Cortez plated three in the inning and kept Durango from scoring the rest of the way to finish on top.<\/p>\n

Likes got the win for Cortez, pitching all seven innings, even though Wilson was slated to start the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cLizzie said she was feeling it so I put her in at pitcher,\u201d coach Frost said. \u201cI just went with it and believed in her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flores, meanwhile, suffered the loss for DHS, throwing 5.1 innings before Teagan Kehm relieved her. \u201cI thought Sydney was pitching great,\u201d coach Bernazzani said. \u201cShe had good control today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cortez improved to 3-0 with the win while Durango slipped to 2-1.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tough to lose a home opener,\u201d Bernazzani said. \u201cI can\u2019t wait to play them again on their turf.\u201d<\/p>\n

DHS will be back in action on Saturday when it hosts Montrose for a doubleheader. The games are scheduled to start at noon and 2 p.m.<\/p>\n

njohnson@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

first homer for DHS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32111,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[592,28,36,596],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-32110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-durango-high-school","tag-headlines","tag-montezuma-cortez-high-school","tag-softball"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32110","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=32110"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86339,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32110\/revisions\/86339"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32110"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=32110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}