{"id":43783,"date":"2021-11-12T17:15:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-12T17:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/panthers-softball-duo-named-all-state\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T09:15:37","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:15:37","slug":"panthers-softball-duo-named-all-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/panthers-softball-duo-named-all-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Panthers softball duo named all-state"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=5a79653e-a59b-4b62-a5ab-77cd95f8ebd2&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1765\" alt=\"Taiah Wilson delivers a pitch on the way to a win for the Panthers over Aspen earlier this season. The Panthers fell in the first round at state this year.\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Taiah Wilson delivers a pitch on the way to a win for the Panthers over Aspen earlier this season. The Panthers fell in the first round at state this year.<\/span><span class=\"credit\">The Journal file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<p>After one of the best seasons in program history, Montezuma-Cortez softball continues to make their mark on the highest stage.<\/p>\n<p>With a league title and state quarterfinal appearance, senior Taiah Wilson and junior Rylee Hickman have earned recognition of the 3A all-state team.<\/p>\n<p>M-CHS wrapped up a 19-7 campaign, among the winningest in school history, which included a 3A Western Slope League title. Looking for an elusive state tournament victory, the Panthers outlasted La Junta 18-17 to make a trip to the round of eight, where they were edged by Sterling 6-5 to end their run.<\/p>\n<p>An anchor of the prolific Panthers offense, Wilson earned a spot of the 3A All-State second team after a year in which the senior pitcher and third baseman posted a .460 batting average. Wilson paced the Panthers with 40 hits, 34 RBIs and 17 extra-base hits.<\/p>\n<p>On the mound, Wilson enjoyed a solid season, posting a 6-1 record with a 5.03 ERA and striking out 72 opponents in 72.1 innings of work.<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=31922f11-ee84-5f6f-a85d-4a98ba9af5d5&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" alt=\"Panthers junior Rylee Hickman fires to first base in this file photo. (Ben Bradley\/Special to The Journal)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Panthers junior Rylee Hickman fires to first base in this file photo. (Ben Bradley\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><span class=\"credit\">Ben Bradley<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>Junior Rylee Hickman \u2019s steady glove accompanied her sterling bat. To go along with 42 assists and four double plays, Hickman helped pace the Panthers offense with a .506 on-base percentage and 34 runs scored, both team bests.<\/p>\n<p>Hickman\u2019s prowess earned her an honorable mention on the all-state squad.<\/p>\n<p>Head coach Anthony \u201cHippo\u201d Frost guided the Panthers to one of its winningest in school history during his second winning season at the helm.<\/p>\n<p>All-state selections are made based on a coaches vote. Nominees are selected based on their status as first-team all-league performers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wilson, Hickman land top honors<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43784,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29,346],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-43783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter","tag-sports"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43783","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=43783"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43783\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85843,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43783\/revisions\/85843"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43783"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=43783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}