MCHS softball team finishes season

MCHS softball team finishes season

Oct. 19, 2000

STAFF REPORT

The varsity fastpitch softball season is over for Montezuma-Cortez High School. The Panthers were eliminated in the first-round of the District Tournament last Saturday, Oct. 14, at Kronkright Field in Grand Junction.

After winning just two games in the past two seasons, the Palisade High School softball team found itself in unfamiliar territory Saturday at Kronkright Complex.

They were champions.

The Bulldogs outlasted MCHS 9-7 earlier in the day, advancing to the district title tilt and assuring themselves a berth in this week's Class 4A state softball tournament in Denver. Palisade then wrapped up the district championship by hammering Delta 14-1.

Also advancing to the state tournament is Delta, which knocked off Rifle on Friday night and upset Montrose 14-9 on Saturday before falling to Palisade.

So the 2000 Class 4A Regional and State Tournament bracket is now set. The tournament will be held Friday and Saturday, Oct. 20-21, at Olympic Park in Aurora. Berthoud (20-1) will meet Delta (11-10). Palisade (10-11) will face Ralston Valley (12-3), Windsor (16-6) will battle Mullen (13-8), Pueblo Centennial (14-7) tangles with Cheyenne Mountain (16-4), Broomfield (15-6) takes on Woodland Park (13-7), Alameda (14-7) faces Pueblo County (16-6), Centaurus (14-6) battles Pueblo South (16-5), and Sterling (16-6) takes on Liberty (13-7). Liberty, which almost didn’t make the tournament, is the defending state champion.

Against Palisade, the Panthers waited until the last possible moment to really get going and their rally came up just a little short. The Bulldogs led 5-0 at the end of three innings. They added two more runs in the fifth and sixth innings. The Panthers’ bats suddenly came alive. After scoring a run in the sixth, they added six more in the top of the seventh.

"We couldn’t hit the ball early. Then in the last inning with two outs, we started knocking the ball everywhere. It was too much too late. We talked to the girls before the game that we had to jump on them early but that didn’t happen. We just waited until the last inning and then tried to get it done," he added.

Thompson, who also pitched, went two-for-four at the plate. She cracked a triple and homer to bring in three runs. Ashleigh Wilson and Amanda Johnson both went two-for-four. Wilson belted a triple and knocked in a run.

Thompson finished with a 5-5 record on the mound. She was tagged with the loss in the final game. Jentri Giesler pitched two innings but was not involved in the decision. The Panthers really missed senior Stacey Pottorff who suffered a broken thumb on her pitching hand, missing the latter half of the season. She got the cast off a week ago but she still could not throw well and did not see any action.

The Panthers finished 4-4 in league and 10-10 overall under first-year coach Charlie Rosenbaugh who was only named to head the program late last summer.

"They improved a lot from the start of fall practices until now," Rosenbaugh reported. "Their fielding came along real good. We made some fielding errors, but for the most part we played good defense. Their bats also improved. Actually, we hit the ball very good (with the exception of a couple games).

Rosenbaugh has reserved a gym at Cortez Middle School to work on pitching, catching and some other skills during the off-season. The girls will then start working out in May and play in area tournaments during the summer.