{"id":51956,"date":"2020-08-25T21:25:36","date_gmt":"2020-08-26T03:25:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/lady-panthers-savoring-3-0-start-to-season\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:58:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:58:07","slug":"lady-panthers-savoring-3-0-start-to-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/lady-panthers-savoring-3-0-start-to-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Lady Panthers savoring 3-0 start to season"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Montezuma-Cortez\u2019s
Montezuma-Cortez\u2019s Taiah Wilson remains calm despite pitching with a Durango runner in scoring position Thursday afternoon at the Cortez Softball Complex.<\/span>Joel Priest\/Special to the Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Having punished the most major mistake her Montezuma-Cortez counterpart made Thursday, Durango pitcher Sydney Flores knew such a gift wouldn\u2019t be offered twice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was told to scoot up in the box, because she was throwing drop balls and rise balls,\u201d she said, detailing her booming at-bat leading off the fourth inning. \u201cAnd usually (a pitch) breaks at the plate, so since I scooted up \u2026 I was able to see it before it broke and just drove it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not good when someone hits like that. \u2026 And she hit it far, too,\u201d said M-CHS head coach Anthony \u2018Hippo\u2019 Frost. \u201cAnd there\u2019s, like, three girls on their team that could get a hold of the ball really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pitcher Taiah Wilson, meanwhile, knew that she now faced a make-or-break moment, having surrendered an intimidating solo shot estimated to fly at least 250 feet, putting her team down 3-0 in an early clash with Flores having already fanned seven Lady Panthers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t bothering me too bad,\u201d she said. \u201cI felt very good \u2013 all of us did. We came together after that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Incredibly, Wilson recovered by striking out Bryn Valdez, Mia Baguskas and Meah Mordecai in succession, then led off the home half of the frame doubling to left field. A wild pitch to Koral Jackson gave her passage to third base, and Jackson promptly poked a single to right, plating Wilson\u2019s courtesy runner Nizhoni Sam and giving M-CHS\u2019 Cortez Softball Complex something to cheer.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you do something like that \u2013 let a girl hit it over \u2013 then come right back and strike three out, her confidence level was there,\u201d said Frost. \u201cIt\u2019s a plus, and it picks up your team when a pitcher does that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nothing came of an Alaysia Kremer two-out single in the top of the fifth for Durango, and the Lady Panthers sensed vulnerability. Batting in the lead-off slot, catcher Allie Kibel smacked a one-out double to center and would later score on second baseman Hailey Veach\u2019s sacrifice fly to center.<\/p>\n

With two away, Wilson then dug in against Flores and ripped a critical 2-RBI double to left \u2013 plating centerfielder Lizzie Likes and shortstop Rylee Hickman \u2013 to give M-CHS a sudden 4-3 lead.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just needed one girl to start it off \u2013 and it just so happened to be Taiah, you know?\u201d a grinning Frost said. \u201cThat\u2019s why she\u2019s \u2026 the No. 4 or No. 5 batter, and it was just contagious \u2013 everyone started rolling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flores then plunked Jackson, and third baseman Bri Comisky capitalized with a single to right, scoring Sam. Three hitters and two runs (Comisky, Erin Brown) later, Lady Demon boss John Bernazzani had no choice but to remove Flores before the 8-3 margin grew.<\/p>\n

In fact, the gap quickly closed, as Teagan Kehn led off the visitors\u2019 sixth inning with a triple to right and then scored on a Flores double to center. Valdez followed with an RBI single to right, and Durango was back to 8-5.<\/p>\n

Baguskas then managed to beat out an infield single before Veach\u2019s throw reached first baseman Brown, and both she and Valdez gained another base when Wilson pitched wild to Mordecai.<\/p>\n

Unwilling to see an unbeaten start to the season disappear, the Lady Panthers\u2019 defense tightened behind the pitching circle and came to the rescue when Mordecai zipped a line drive into Likes\u2019 mitt. Knowing Baguskas had to retreat back to third, Likes then relayed the ball to Veach, who then tossed it to Hickman to double off Baguskas. Reenergized, Wilson then struck out Lola Bradshaw to retire the side.<\/p>\n

\u201cTowards the end of the game, we stuck with it,\u201d said Wilson, who then quickly set the top third of Durango\u2019s lineup \u2014 Sylvia Reyes, Kremer, Lily Longan \u2014 down in order to secure the three-run victory and a 3-0 overall record in the young 2020 campaign. \u201cI think it was just, like, adrenalin and the team getting pumped up \u2014 all of us together \u2014 and that mentality, knowing that we\u2019re coming back up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having already thrashed 3A Western Slope League rival Gunnison 18-3 and 15-3 on Saturday, Aug. 15, Frost wasn\u2019t exactly surprised by his squad\u2019s start this season; rather, he was pleased to see his team overcome adversity \u2014 against their arch-nemesis, to boot.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, it\u2019s really good,\u201d said the first-year skipper, taking over for predecessor Brittney Whiteman after a solid 17-7, State Tournament Round of 16 run in 2019. \u201cI\u2019m really confident being out there \u2026 because it\u2019s really easy to coach these girls. They listen, they respect you, and when you\u2019ve got girls like that, that are coachable, it makes anything fun to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Montezuma-Cortez (3-0, 2-0 WSL) was next to have played a doubleheader Tuesday, Aug. 25, against high-scoring, non-league Rifle (3-0, 0-0 4A Western Slope) at neutral Delta, but results were unavailable at press time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know they lost a lot of players, but they have a good third baseman, and their whole infield \u2026 they\u2019re solid,\u201d Frost said. \u201cSo it\u2019s going to be another battle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Delta will also serve as the site for M-CHS\u2019 Aug. 29 WSL twin bill with Aspen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Montezuma-Cortez\u2019s success in 2019 gains steam in 2020<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51957,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[29,596,346],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-51956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-newsletter","tag-softball","tag-sports"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51956","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=51956"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51956\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88023,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51956\/revisions\/88023"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51956"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=51956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}