{"id":44422,"date":"2021-10-03T23:53:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-04T05:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/doubleheader-split-keeps-panthers-atop-league\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:19:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:19:25","slug":"doubleheader-split-keeps-panthers-atop-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/doubleheader-split-keeps-panthers-atop-league\/","title":{"rendered":"Doubleheader split keeps Panthers atop league"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Montezuma-Cortez
Montezuma-Cortez senior Taiah Wilson connects with a pitch in a game against Meeker. (Ben Bradley\/Special to The Journal)<\/span>Ben Bradley<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

CORTEZ \u2013 With dreams of a 3A Western Slope League title slipping away, a seasoned Panthers squad came up with one of its biggest rallies of the season.<\/p>\n

Trailing 7-6 through five innings Saturday against Meeker, the Panthers found big hits in the final two innings to reverse the script, taking the contest, 10-9, as part of a doubleheader split against the Cowboys.<\/p>\n

Meeker posted an 11-8 victory in game one, holding off a Panther charge in the late innings.<\/p>\n

M-CHS (15-5, 9-1 3A WSL) turned to their upperclassmen to help bounce back from the Game 1 disappointment. Having already assured themselves their fourth consecutive winning season, the seniors that have been a part of the program during that stretch want to add a league title to their final year.<\/p>\n

\"Montezuma-Cortez
Montezuma-Cortez freshman Emily Carver slides into home ahead of the tag in a game against Meeker (Ben Bradley\/Special to The Journal)<\/span>Ben Bradley<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Montezuma-Cortez
Montezuma-Cortez junior Rylee Hickman fires to first base in a game against Meeker. (Ben Bradley\/Special to The Journal)<\/span>Ben Bradley<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Montezuma-Cortez
Montezuma-Cortez sophomore Kaycee Tom rounds first base after hitting a single against Meeker. (Ben Bradley\/Special to The Journal)<\/span>Ben Bradley<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cIt seems like we (the senior class) have been playing together our entire lives,\u201d said senior Koral Jackson, \u201cand we\u2019ve been wanting to make this our best year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senior second baseman Hailey Veach got the Panthers rolling in the second game, driving a two-RBI single in the opening inning to help the Panthers build a 4-0 lead.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were more confident in the second game,\u201d said senior Taiah Wilson of her team\u2019s response in the second contest. \u201cWe talked more, and had a lot more positivity.\u201d<\/p>\n

M-CHS batted around in the inning, and would add two more in the top half of the second as classmates Brianna Comisky and Taiah Wilson would reach to begin the inning, followed by a single by junior Rylee Hickman and the third RBI of the game for Veach.<\/p>\n

Down 6-2, Meeker (9-10, 9-1 3A WSL) would battle back, however, with a run in the third and four runs in the fourth to take their first lead of the game.<\/p>\n

Taking on the steady approach of their head coach, Anthony \u201cHippo\u201d Frost, the Panthers looked unfazed by the deficit. \u201cHe (Coach Frost) puts so much faith in us,\u201d said Veach, \u201cand he makes sure that we believe in ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

After trading zeroes in the fifth inning, the Panthers faced their final six outs needing a rally. Junior Lizzie Likes led off the sixth inning with a single, followed by Comisky producing the same.<\/p>\n

Wilson then looped a single over the head of the first baseman to drive in Likes to tie up the game, before Veach pushed across her fourth RBI via a sacrifice fly.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve become a hitting team,\u201d said Veach of her team\u2019s biggest improvement over the season, \u201cwe\u2019ve been in the batting cages since the winter, and that has paid off for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the seventh inning, the Panthers would add some insurance, as freshmen Neveah Istenes opened the inning with a single. Classmate Emily Carver would get aboard on a fielder\u2019s choice, before senior left fielder Koral Jackson drove a ball into right field to give the Panthers runners on second and third.<\/p>\n

A wild pitch would score Carver, before Comisky would tack on one more run with an RBI to drive in Jackson.<\/p>\n

The Panthers would need every bit of their insurance, as Meeker would bring the tying run to the plate in the bottom half of the inning, before Wilson induced three consecutive outs, all recorded by Comisky at third base, to close out the Cowboys.<\/p>\n

\u201cI threw a lot of different pitches,\u201d said Wilson of her ability to collect some big outs down the stretch, \u201cand Emily (Carver) was calling for pitches that she thought would work, so together, we worked well as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Veach punched two more RBIs in the opening loss, while Hickman added two runs and an RBI triple.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach year we\u2019ve gotten better,\u201d said Veach, \u201cand that\u2019s allowed us to be able to set some of the high goals that we have for ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve made a name for ourselves over the past four years,\u201d added Jackson of a group that has enjoyed one of its winningest spans in program history.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a family that we\u2019ve built over the course of time that we\u2019ve spent together,\u201d added Hickman, \u201cand it\u2019s been an honor to get to play with this group of seniors.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Panthers celebrate senior day on Saturday, Oct. 9 at Englehart Field with a pivotal doubleheader against the Cedaredge Bruins. A sweep would ensure M-CHS at least a share of the league title, as they battle for regional seeding, as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

M-CHS softball rallies past Meeker to take Game 2<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44423,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,36,29,596,346],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-44422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-montezuma-cortez-high-school","tag-newsletter","tag-softball","tag-sports"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44422","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=44422"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86084,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44422\/revisions\/86084"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44422"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=44422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}