It’s prep baseball tournament time for the area schools. Montezuma-Cortez High School will compete at the sixth annual Aztec Invitational today, Friday and Saturday, March 15-17. Dolores and Dolores County will play in the annual Cortez JV Tournament at Parque de Vida and Englehart fields Friday and Saturday.

"It should be a good tournament," MCHS first-year head coach Chuck Cotter reported. "We will have a real tough game in our opener (against Kirtland-Central at 3 p.m. today). Piedra Vista (Farmington) also will be tough. Aztec always has a good team."

On the opposite side of the bracket, the host Tigers play Pagosa Springs at 5:30. In the other opening games, Piedra Vista takes on Grants, N.M., and West Las Vegas, N. M., tangles with Aztec JVs, a last-minute entry replacing another team which dropped out. The winner of the MCHS-Kirtland game play at 4:30 p.m. Friday while the losers play at 11:30 a.m. The championship game is scheduled for 6 p.m. Saturday, third-fourth at 4:30, fifth-sixth 2 p.m., and seventh-eighth 11:30 a.m.

The annual Cortez JV Tournament will be played at both Parque de Vida and Englehart ball parks. Here are the games for Parque de Vida on Friday: Dolores meets Cortez JVs at 10 a.m., Ignacio tangles with the Bears at 12:30 p.m. and Ignacio takes on Cortez JVs at 3 p.m. Here are the games at Englehart Field on Friday: Dolores County battles Kirtland-Central JVs at 10 a.m., Kirtland JVs meet Bayfield at 12:30 and Bayfield battles Dolores County at 3 p.m.

Tournament action moves to Parque de Vida on Saturday. Number three takes on number three at 10 a.m., number two faces number two at 12:30 p.m. and number one faces number one at 3 p.m. There will be an eight-run rule for all games except for the championship. A two-and-half hour time limit will be enforced (no innings starting after that time, except for championship game).

Dove Creek beat Piedra Vista JVs on Tuesday, but information of that game was not available at press time.

Meanwhile, The Panthers are coming off their season opener with a victory at Shiprock, N.M., on Tuesday, March 13. The 10-7 win was the first for Chuck Cotter since taking over the program late last August.

Cortez jumped all over Chiefs in the top of the first inning with a three-run barrage. Shiprock bounced back in the bottom of the inning. Each team scored twice in the third. The Panthers pushed two more runs over the plate in the top of the fourth but the Chiefs came back with a run in the bottom of the frame. Cortez led 7-4 at the end of four complete innings. The Panthers put the game out of reach with three more runs in the top of the fifth. Shiprock added two in the fifth and one in sixth.

"We got good pitching from (senior) Tony McCombs," Cotter reported. "Anytime you can get seven innings on a first outing, that’s doing a pretty good job. I was very pleased with our pitching."

McComb scattered eight hits, struck out seven and walked only one in picking up the win. He hit one batter. McComb did give up seven runs, but only three of those were earned.

Offensively, the Panthers hit the ball well. They pounded 14 hits. Josh Knapp went three-for-five (all singles), McComb helped himself out with a pair of doubles. Richard Yake only had one hit but he knocked in a pair of runs. Kevin Wayman slapped a triple and knocked in a run but he jammed a finger. He was scheduled to pitch in the first game of the Aztec Invitational. Matt Betts and Kris Nittler also picked up a pair of hits.

The defensive play was another matter. Cortez committed four errors and made several more mental mistakes.

"Our defense definitely needs to pick up. I kept telling myself during the game that it was only the first one of the season," Cotter commented.

Dolores opened the 2001 season with a wild game this past Saturday, March 10, at Parque de Vida in Cortez. The Bears fell to Monticello, Utah, 19-18.

"It was the first game of the season and the lack of pitching (outside) showed," DHS head coach Jim Everin said. "We also had our share of mistakes, just like they did. We have not had a chance to practice outside (because of snow on the field). We missed some bunt coverages and routine balls in the infield that would normally have been played. Most of our errors were because of throwing mistakes."

Cullen Zion, who has just traded his gym shoes for cleats and his basketball for baseball, went three-for-four at the plate. He cracked a single, a double, and a triple and drove in three runs. Brady Blackmer also had a good day behind the plate.

"I was pleased with the play of our outfield (Nick Martin in center, Kevin Fane in left, and Creed Wilford in right)," Everin remarked.