Dolores County High School, after beating Dolores the first game of a doubleheader this past Saturday, April 22 at Weber Park Field in Dove Creek, captured the Class 2A San Juan League baseball title. The Bulldogs celebrated by winning the nightcap as well.

The Bulldogs, 16-3 overall, now take on Soroco at 1 p.m.. Saturday, April 29, in the Divisional Playoffs at Lincoln Park in Grand Junction. Nucla, which finished second, battles Grand Valley at 11 a.m. The winners of those games play at 3 p.m. for seeding in the District Tournament at Alamosa May 6. Regionals and State are set May 12-13, respectively, in Colorado Springs.

Montezuma-Cortez High School fell to Durango 10-4 on Friday, April 21, at Parque de Vida in Southwest League action.

"Right now we are done with the regular season," DCHS head coach Ken Soper said. "It was that Soroco team that beat us 20-7 a year ago and knocked us right out of the playoffs. They have another good team this year so we will really have to play well."

Fortunately for the Bulldogs, they are playing well right now. They beat the Bears 8-3 in the first game and whipped them 13-3 in six innings in the second game.

"It was a good game through five innings. I thought Dolores played real well that first game. We didn’t put them away until the fourth," Soper commented.

The score was 3-0 at the end of three innings. The Bears and the Bulldogs each scored in the fourth. But in the bottom of the sixth was where the Bulldogs won the game. They pushed four runs over the plate. Justin Wyatt knocked in a run (unearned), Terence Gardner singled in two runs and he later scored on a wild pitch which accounted for the scoring. The Bears rallied for two runs in the top of the seventh. The Bulldogs did not have to bat in the bottom of the inning.

Ron Ernst pitched six innings. He fanned 11 and walked only two in picking up the win. Keith Pierce finished up. Creed Willaford took the loss for the Bears.

Jade Huskey went two-for-three at the plate and picked up a run batted in. Gardner cracked a single and a doubled for three RBI, and Chris Kail knocked in two runs with a single. For the Bears, Cullen Zion, who also relieved Willaford, belted a single, a double and a triple and knocked in a pair of runs.

Knowing they had the league title wrapped up, the Bulldogs played very relaxed in the second game of the day.

Dove Creek led 2-0 at the end of the first inning and went up 3-0 when the second inning was over. Dolores got on the scoreboard in the top of the third. Dolores’ other two runs came in the top of the fifth. Dove Creek scored two in the bottom of the fourth and scored five in the fifth and added three more in the sixth and were still batting when the game was called (10-run rule).

Dallas Daves was credited with the win on the mound as he worked four innings, struck out five and walked only one. Huskey and Wyatt finished up. Aeson Reed took the loss for the Bears.

Ernst ripped a double and a single and knocked in two runs. Huskey went three-for-four and picked up two RBI, Daves helped himself by going three-for-three including two doubles and two RBI, and Wyatt drilled a single and a triple and brought home three runs. Zion went two-for-three and knocked in two runs Brady Blackmer, Willaford and Chris Hanson all picked up two hits each for the Bears.

"We seem to hit the ball much better in the second game. We have done that all season long with the exception of one game. We will need to hit the ball well this weekend," Soper added.

The Bears are not quite done with the regular season. They will host Nucla at 1 and 3 p.m. today, April 27, at Gonzales Field at Joe Rowell Park.

Things started off well for the Panthers in their game against the Demons but in the end it didn’t turn out so well.

The Demons threatened in the top of the first inning by loading the bases with two outs. But the Panthers were finally able to get out of the jam. Cortez took capitalized on several walks and an error and scored two unearned runs. Bryce Tanner reached first on an error, stole second and later scored on a wild pitch. Randon Cornett walked went to second on a sacrifice bunt by Matt Ruggles, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on another wild pitch.

Durango went down quietly in the second. With two outs, Tanner walked, stole second, and scored on a single by Ruggles. Cortez was up 3-0.

But things went down hill quickly for the Panthers as the Demons tied the game. After Ryan Preszler walked, Reed Duvall tripled him home. Duvall scored a few minutes later on a sacrifice fly to deep left field by Nick Sansoni. Bobby Carlson knocked home Nick MCoola who had walked earlier and stole second. The Panthers threatened in the bottom of the frame when Evan Frost walked and swiped second with no outs. But Cortez could not get him home.

The Demons broke the game wide open by scoring five runs in the fourth. McCoola had an RBI single, Cody Bliss picked up a cheap RBI when he walked with the bases loaded and Carlson ripped a two-run single.

The Panthers got another runner when Frost drilled a triple but they left him stranded. They did score when Cornett doubled and later scored on a single by Tony McCombs in the top of the seventh. In the inning before, the Demons pushed two runs over the plate when Bliss brought home a run with a triple and Jerimiah Kurtz helped himself with a run-scoring sacrifice fly.

Kurtz went the distance on the mound despite the shaky start. He struck out four and walked a whopping 10 batters. Ryan Loyd went the distance for Cortez and took the loss. He fanned six and walked five.