A big varsity softball doubleheader is set against Delta beginning at 2 p.m. Friday, Sept. 15, at the Cortez Softball Complex.

The Panthers, who are looking very impressive under new head coach Charlie Rosenbaugh, play their first home games of the 2000 season. They are 4-2 overall.

They played well at the Berthoud Tournament which was held this past Friday and Saturday, Sept. 8-9.

It was a big tournament as 24 teams played in six different pools.

Cortez won its first game on Friday against Yuma and came away with an easy 10-0 win.

Stacey Pottorff faced only 16 batters and fanned eight of those. She gave up only two hits while picking up the win. Jena Thompson went two-for-three with two singles. Brook Twilley slapped a single but knocked in a pair of runs.

The Panthers also took advantage of five Yuma errors. Cortez played errorless defense.

Cortez faced Roosevelt in the second game of the day on Friday. Thompson did an excellent job on the mound, according to Rosenbaugh.

The Panthers won 4-2. Thompson scored the first run of the game when Ashleigh Wilson scrificed her home. Stacy Martinez singled and later came home on an error. Thompson scored again in the third when Thompson cracked a long single and went to second on a miscue. She advanced to third following a called illigal pitch. Wilson banged a double to bring Thompson home which made the score 3-0.

Roosevelt scored in the bottom of the third. Twilley made a nice throw gunning down a runner at third during the inning.

Pottorff made the score 4-1 after belting a solo homer. Cortez finished the game with eight hits.

A Roosevelt player responded with a home run. Pottorff came in relief of Thompson in the final inning to face the final two batters. Roosevelt finished with seven hits.

The Panthers played another good game defensively, committing only two errors. Roosevelt made four, most of them costly.

Following a 30-minute rain delay before their third game of the day, the Panthers struggled against Niwot. The Panthers lost 5-3.

In the first inning, Niwot pushed a runner home from third off a sacrifice fly to the outfield. Cortez answered back with a run in the bottom of the second. Jentri Giesler came home following three consecutive errors. Niwot scored again in the top of the third. It scored twice more in the fifth. Cortez scored twice in the sixth. The first run came when Wilson reached first on an error, Giesler reached base on another miscue and Emily Parrish brought Wilson home with a long sacrifice. Giesler stole second and then Linda Smart doubled in Wilson. Roosevelt scored its final run in the top of the seventh with a homer.

According to Rosenbaugh, Roosevelt was the best team they had faced on that day.

"Those girls from Roosevelt hit the ball. The girls had nothing to hang their heads about, they played a tough team. I look for Niwot to be in the state playoffs. Linda Smart did a heck of a job in the outfield. She had two plays in the tournament where she was quick enough to get two outs at first from right field," he commented.

The next day the Panthers took on Alameda, which beat Cortez 10-2. Giesler pitched and gave up three walks. Cortez had five field errors which didn’t help either.

Alameda scored four times in the first inning. Janine Orta slugged a grand slam. Alameda scored three times in the second on a walk, two errors in the outfield, combined with a pair of singles. It scored three more times in the sixth, all runs accounted for by Orta’s three-run homer.

The Panthers’ only two runs of the game came in the first inning. Thompson opened with a single and Twilley doubled and Wilson singled to load the bases. Giesler doubled in Thompson and Twilley. Thompson finished the day going two-for-three at the plate. Offensively, the Panthers played well as they finished with eight hits. But defensively, the committed eight errors while Alameda made only one.

But Cortez came back and won 6-4 over Eaton behind the pitching of Thompson. Eaton scored two runs in the second and two in the fifth. Cortez scored two in the fourth, two in the sixth and two in the seventh to seal the victory.

"We played the ladies in several different positions in the last game and it worked out well," Rosenbaugh said.

Parrish did a good job catching behind the plate in place of Twilley. Michelle Davis played at second and did a good job defensively.

"I like to see that we are not a selfish team. We all backed each other and encouraged the ones playing. I think that’s important. This is a good bunch of ladies and I expect great things out of them the rest of the season," he added.