The Montezuma-Cortez softball team was just over four-thousandths of a point away from making the Class 3A Regional Tournament.
Four-thousandths of 1 point.
With its new Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), the Colorado High School Activities Association uses winning percentage, opponents’ winning percentage and opponents of opponents’ winning percentage to determine each team’s RPI.
It uses each team’s RPI to determine which teams make the playoffs.
There are 36 high school softball teams in Class 3A, and 24 qualify for the regional tournament.
Certain districts automatically qualify their champions for the postseason, and then the rest of the bracket is filled out going down the line of the RPI standings.
Unless a district champion has an RPI out of the top 24, the schools with the top 24 RPI are in. That was initially the case for this season: 1 through 24.
M-CHS was No. 26 in CHSAANow’s final RPI standings with an RPI of 0.422493, falling two spots out of the hunt. However, No. 20 Dolores Huerta Prep did not have enough players to compete, so it forfeited its position, athletic director Jerry Salazar confirmed.
Filling the vacant spot was No. 25 Gunnison, with an RPI of 0.426991.
Just 0.004498 better than the Lady Panthers.
Gunnison was 3-16 on the year and 3-9 in the Western Slope League with two wins over Aspen and one over M-CHS.
The Panthers were 6-13 overall and 3-9 in the WSL with wins over The Classical Academy, Mesa Ridge, Durango, Aspen twice and Gunnison.
CHSAA doesn’t have a program to produce a hypothetical RPI. But it’s probably safe to assume that M-CHS would have been above Gunnison in the RPI and slotted in the bracket had it beaten them twice instead of splitting their doubleheader.
The Panthers won 18-11 in the opener, but fell 11-10 in the second game. Two runs may have extended their season.
The narrow miss is heartbreaking for the young squad. But as head coach Angelo Topaha said all season, his team is just that: young. And there’s reason for optimism.
The Lady Panthers improved from last year’s 2-14 record to win six games this year. While the shift in leagues played a factor, the Panthers should be even better next season with a slew of underclassmen returning.
Sophomore Morgan Short hit four home runs, batted .525, and swiped 24 bases in 17 games this season. Freshmen trio Alyssa Cornett, Alexis Cornett and Presley Frost combined for 34 RBIs. And Frost and sophomore Dannika Noyes will likely take a step forward next season as pitchers.
It may hurt now, but the future looks promising.
