Regional hosts may overlook the Panthers at their own peril.
After rolling through some highs and lows during league play, head coach Tim Passell's Montezuma-Cortez High School baseball team might be catching its stride at the right time.
M-CHS rattled off three straight wins to cap the regular season, ending with an 11-10 record and entering the 3A regional tournament this weekend with plenty of momentum.
Wins over Alamosa (11-3), Palmer (15-5) and Strasburg (4-2) propelled the Panthers back above .500, and now the orange-and-black will look to keep the streak alive on Saturday, May 21, in the opening round of the regional.
In their final league game, M-CHS routed Alamosa thanks to strong pitching from junior Evan LaMunyon (5 IP, 4 K) and Miles Frost (2 IP) that shut down the Mean Moose bats. The Panthers offense punished Alamosa pitching with 14 hits, including five players with multiple hits. Junior Jake Blackmer led the way with three.
Traveling to Colorado Springs for a pair of nonleague outings to wrap up the regular season, Blackmer outdid his three-hit day with a rare cycle (single, double, triple and home run in one game) against Palmer.
M-CHS routed the Terrors, thanks to strong days from JT Carver and Kolby Wirth, putting the game away with five runs in the fifth inning. LaMunyon again picked up the pitching victory, allowing just five hits and striking out seven in the victory.
In the second game of the afternoon, senior Trinidad McDonell fired another complete game, limiting Strasburg to three hits. Frost drove in the game’s first run, and the Panthers played solid defense behind McDonell to cap the regular season on a high note.
“We’re very excited to finish strong,” said Passell, “and we know that we’re going to have to play well on the road.”
The win over Strasburg gives the Panthers a strong indicator of how they can fare against a fellow playoff caliber opponent.
“Our ability to play error-free defense gives us a big momentum boost,” said Passell, “and we're excited to see what we can do in the regionals.”
With the 3A regional brackets released, M-CHS learned that their postseason road will begin against No. 10 Manitou Springs on Saturday, May 21, at 1:30 p.m. The game will be played at Lamar High School, which enters as the No. 7 seed and will play Liberty Common in the other regional semifinal.
The winners of the two semis will meet in the regional title game that afternoon, with the victor moving on to the double-elimination state tournament, to be played the following weekend.
Manitou Springs (16-6-1) enters as the champions of the 3A/2A Tri-Peaks League and is led by senior Raymond McCaskey, who paces the Mustangs in most statistical categories, including 31 hits and 43 runs scored this season. The Panthers are likely to face sophomore Mustang ace Nathan Gentzel, who has posted a 5-1 record and 3.59 ERA.
Regional host Lamar posted a 14-9 record this season and earned the right to play on its home field courtesy of a Tri-Peaks League tournament title, which included an upset over Manitou Springs in the semifinals.
M-CHS aims to ride their wave of momentum into the busy Saturday slate, where two wins would equal a 3A state berth
