Baseball playoff action

Baseball playoff action
Panthers fall to Rifle; Bulldogs to play Custer Co.

May 3, 2001

STAFF REPORT

The Panthers of Montezuma-Cortez High School ended their quick run in the post-season playoffs, losing 5-1 on Tuesday, May 1, at Rifle in the first round of the Class 4A State Baseball Playoffs. The Bulldogs of Dolores County High School will take on Custer County in the first game of the 2A West/South District Tournament on Saturday, May 5. The game will start at 10 a.m. at the OTA Field in Gunnison. If the Bulldogs win they will advance to regionals and state, May 11-12, at Spurgeon Field in Colorado Springs.

Cortez went up against a good Rifle team. It was a good game through the first three innings. The Panthers scored in the first inning but never scored again the rest of the game. In fact, they only got one hit the whole game.

Rifle pushed one run across the plate in the bottom of the fourth and then exploded for three runs in the fifth and added an insurance run in the sixth.

Charlie Terrell went two-for-four and Matt Rowe went one-for-four but knocked in two runs in the bottom of the fifth.

Brian Beecraft was the main man for Rifle. He went the distance and picked up the win. In the seven innings he pitched, he allowed only one hit, one run, struck out 10 and walked four. He started out rather wild but settled down and threw a great game in keeping the Panther batters guessing. Tony McComb certainly pitched well enough to win. He worked the entire game and allowed only four hits, but he did not get any help at the plate or in the field as a couple costly errors were made.

The Panthers, under first-year head coach Chuck Cotter, finished the season at 3-14 overall. Although they did not chalk up many wins, they were competitive in nearly every game they played. They lost several games by only one run and several more by just two. Their biggest win of the season came just last weekend when they knocked off Class 5A top-ranked Central of Grand Junction 9-8.

Niwot, currently fourth ranked, is the two-time defending state champion in Class 4A and appears headed towards another title. The Cougars, who have several early-season losses this season, won the Tri-Valley Conference title again last weekend.

Dolores County, meanwhile, is 13-7 overall and coming off a 12-1 win over Grand Valley but a 19-1 loss to Nucla at last week’s Division I Baseball Tournament at Parque de Vida in Cortez. It has been an up-and-down season this year for the Bulldogs. They play well one game and turn right around and play poorly the next one. Longtime head coach Ken Soper this season often is never sure which team will show up.

The Bulldogs are led by Terence Gardner who has a .473 batting average. Keith Pierce is right behind him at .471 and Kyle Krafka swings the bat at .364.

Custer County is 16-2 overall and is coming off a 9-4 win over Cotopaxi and a 16-0 rout of Antonito in the Division II Tournament The Bobcats have several of the top hitting players in all of Class 2A. Dave Schultz leads the team with a gaudy .640 average. Chad Lockhart hits better than 50 percent of the time at .511. Kyle Butts has a .490 and Grady Camper checks in at .429.

Butts will likely get the start on the mound with Schultz coming in relief for Custer County. Dove Creek will likely go with Dallas Coker and Dallas Daves.

Nucla will play Antonito, which upset Cotopaxi, in the other District game at Gunnison. Crowley County is the 2A defending state champion.