<\/p>\n
DELTA \u2013 Asked separately the last time they\u2019d been seriously used as pitchers, Montezuma-Cortez second baseman Hailey Veach and third baseman Bri Comisky paused, then grinned, as both replied it probably happened during their 12U club ball days.<\/p>\n
Saturday, both received innings inside the circle against an Aspen bunch that more closely resembled a 12U team than CHSAA Class 3A varsity.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s kind of always hard when we play teams like this,\u201d said Veach, who started and earned the win in Game 2 of the doubleheader at neutral Delta High School, which M-CHS won by scores of 23-1 and 21-6. \u201cAnd I\u2019d pitched some this summer, so I\u2019ve kind of got the rhythm of it. But I felt good; it was nice to help back up Taiah, so her arm doesn\u2019t get too tired.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wilson, the Lady Panthers ace, notched a three-inning complete-game victory in Game 1, allowing three hits and an unearned run in the bottom of the third. She struck out five, walked three and managed to twice strand a Lady Skiers at third base.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew we could get on base and \u2026 put some runs up. But I wasn\u2019t expecting something like that,\u201d said center fielder Lizzie Likes, who crashed a first-inning RBI-triple to plate leadoff hitter Allie Kibel and trigger the onslaught.<\/p>\n
In Game 1, Montezuma-Cortez (7-0, 4-0 Western Slope) totaled a dozen runs in the top of the first inning against Aspen\u2019s Hannah Smith.<\/p>\n
Wilson came through with a 2-RBI single to key M-CHS\u2019 six-run second, and first baseman Erin Brown\u2019s two-out, 2-RBI single in the third plated Veach and left fielder Koral Jackson for the Lady Panthers\u2019 final runs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe struggle with slower pitching,\u201d Veach said, \u201cso today I think our team really did well on waiting back and hitting the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re always happy for a win,\u201d agreed Comisky, \u201cbut it\u2019s more fun when you\u2019re struggling to beat the other team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aspen (0-3, 0-3) managed to greet Veach in Game 2 with two early runs, manufactured through three base-on-balls, two wild pitches and a ground-out by catcher Phoenix Leeking, but Montezuma-Cortez had no problem answering against Lily Wolman.<\/p>\n
Powered by a bases-clearing Likes double \u2013 plating Arianna Muniz, Emily Davidovich and Kibel \u2013 the Lady Panthers regained a 9-2 advantage. AHS managed to convert three more Veach walks, two wild pitches and a Eliza Marolt single into three optimistic second-inning runs but, aided by RBI-doubles by Davidovich, Kibel, Likes and Brown, M-CHS erupted for eight runs and cruised into the third inning ahead 17-5.<\/p>\n
Head coach Anthony \u2018Hippo\u2019 Frost then gave the ball to Comisky, who surrendered a lead single to Nikki Harris. Able to steal both second and third bases and score on a wild delivery to Elleana Bone two hitters later, it would be Aspen\u2019s last hurrah. Then, facing runners on first and second, the Panthers posted a triple play with a caught pop-up at first base, a force-out at second and a tag on the runner from first.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just, like, instinct,\u201d said Hickman, \u201cto go to second without even knowing \u2026 and roll up that triple play.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was shocked, honestly,\u201d Likes said. \u201cBut \u2026 it was cool to watch, see everybody work as a team like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was pretty satisfying,\u201d said Comisky, who plated the mercy rule-enacting run in the bottom of the third with a single scoring Brown.<\/p>\n
All told, Likes led the way offensively in Game 2 with four runs scored and five driven in on 3-for-4 hitting. Jackson went 3-3 with a walk and scored three times, and Wilson went 1-4 with two runs and three RBIs. Batting eighth and ninth, Muniz and Davidovich combined for four RBIs. Each Panther batter logged at least one RBI.<\/p>\n
Up next, M-CHS will return to Delta Saturday, Sept. 5 to battle Basalt in a doubleheader at 11 a.m.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Basalt\u2019s going to be one of our better competitors, and so I think we\u2019ll be working together more on the field,\u201d said Veach. \u201cWe\u2019ve been focusing on our batting just to try to get our swings to where we can hit the best we\u2019re able.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re coming together really good,\u201d Hickman said, acknowledging M-CHS\u2019 quality 17-7, 15-3 routs of Rifle High School (3-3, 0-0 4A Western Slope) on the same diamond just days before. \u201cOur team effort is amazing, how much we put in on the field and off the field to just become closer \u2026 each day and each game.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
M-CHS totals 44 runs, turns triple play in sweep<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51855,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[36,29,596],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-51854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-montezuma-cortez-high-school","tag-newsletter","tag-softball"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51854","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=51854"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51854\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88008,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51854\/revisions\/88008"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51854"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=51854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}