MONTROSE – As one of the last teams in Colorado to play their season opener, there’s no doubt that the Panthers were anxious to come out swinging.
Timely hitting and plate discipline proved to be the catalyst for the Panthers against a trio of tough opponents in Montrose on Friday and Saturday. Montezuma-Cortez bounced back from a 10-0 defeat to Coal Ridge to post wins over Rifle and Montrose by 7-5 and 9-4 scores, respectively.
The Panthers (2-1) used 14 walks over the three games to bolster their offense, headlined by a big six-run fourth inning against Rifle on Saturday to break a 1-1 tie.
Senior Bobby Likes scattered five hits through 4 1/3 innings against the Bears to collect the win on the mound, while sophomore Michael Krupa closed the door on the Rifle rally in the late innings.
Juniors Bodie Stiegelmeyer and Parker Conrad joined Krupa with multi-hit days.
In their tournament finale against Montrose – a team that the Panthers will see again on Mar. 25 – M-CHS posted crooked numbers in three of the first four innings to run away from the Red Hawks.
Senior Kolby Wirth and junior Jaris McDonald punched a pair of hits apiece, while McDonald took to the mound for three innings of work. Senior Samson Lein came on in relief for the final twelve outs, shutting down the Red Hawks in the process, to push the Panthers to a winning record to open the season.
Junior Darren Daves and McDonald finished the weekend with three hits apiece while head coach Jake Huff and the Panthers took advantage of small ball, stealing 10 bases through the three games to turn many of their walks and 20 singles into the equivalent of extra-base hits.
It’s a Panthers team that boasts plenty of experience on the field, as a large part of the batting order have been major contributors for the past couple of seasons. They’re an upperclassmen-heavy group now, with plenty of postseason experience from their past two winning campaigns.
State power Coal Ridge had kept the Panthers bats quiet in the M-CHS season opener, but M-CHS started to show the flair of a team that looks to make noise in the Intermountain League and 3A postseason. Nearly mistake-free fielding supported a pitching staff that struck out 13 batters over the weekend as Huff and the Panthers turned to six different arms on the hill.
After their midweek rematch against the Red Hawks, the Panthers look forward to action in Aztec over the weekend of Mar. 27-29 to really get in gear heading into April.
