MCHS softball team falls to Durango

MCHS softball team falls to Durango

Sept 8, 2001

STAFF REPORT

Durango outlasted host Montezuma-Cortez High School 13-10 in a wild single varsity softball game played Thursday afternoon, Sept. 6, at the Cortez Softball Complex.

After both teams scored twice in the first inning, the Demons pushed two more runs over the plate in the second and added one more in top of the third. But Cortez, behind a grand slam home run by Ashley Reed, rallied to go up 6-5. However, Durango responded in the fourth inning with a six-run barrage. The Demons added one run in the sixth and one in the seventh. MCHS scored twice more in the fifth and sixth.

Durango finished with 17 hits on the day while Cortez had eight, including Nicole Stephens and Brittany Johnson each going two-for-three. What hurt the Panthers was committing three errors. DHS had 10 runs batted in on the day.

The 2001 prep fast-pitch softball season began on not the best of notes with Montezuma-Cortez High School dropping all three games in the annual Peach Fuzz Tournament opened at Kronkright Softball Complex.

Cortez took on Delta in the first game of the two-day tournament, falling 8-1 on Aug. 31. Delta got a no-hitter from Erin Smith in its victory over Cortez. Smith struck out seven, while the Delta Panthers also received key hits from Kammie Thomas and Shaunna Abila in the win.

After the first three innings were scoreless, Delta went out to a 4-0 lead. It stayed that way until late in the game when Delta came up with four more runs.

"We just plain did not play well in that game," MCHS head coach Charlie Rosenbaugh said. "I’m not sure if it was nerves or what. Delta (after losing a lot of players to graduation) is not as strong as it was a year ago. I’m sure that during the regular season that we will play them much better."

Jenna Thompson threw well in her first outing, working the first four. Chelsea Cook tossed a couple innings.

The next morning, Sept. 1, the Panthers took on Palisade. The Bulldogs raced to a 4-0 lead but Cortez came right back with three runs. But a couple bad innings, some errors, and no bats by the Panthes enabled Palisade to go out front 14-3. Tiffany Collins earned the win against Cortez as the Bulldogs gave her plenty of run support. Rachel White drove in three runs with a triple against the Panthers.

Cook, a freshman who goes to school at Dolores County, rapped a triple. Amanda Johnson belted a double.

Later that afternoon, the Panthers played Golden. Cortez led 5-4 until late when Golden tied it at 5-5 thanks to an outfield error. Another error, this time in the infield, allowed the winning run to score for the final 6-5 loss by Cortez.The Demons took advantage of four Cortez errors in the afternoon game to take the win.

A bright spot for the Panthers was McKenzie Reed, who goes to school at Dolores, when she cracked a double. Veteran Linda Smart made a nice slap single.

"Errors and no bats hurt us. We took 16 girls up there to find out what they could do. I found out what we need to work on. Those games showed us a lot. We have got to work at being more aggressive in getting to the ball in the outfield. We have got to work more on batting," Rosenbaugh added.

The Central Warriors, the defending Southwestern League champs, opened by hammering Golden 11-1, riding the arm of Jami Cason to victory. Incidentally, Palisade knocked off Durango, only in its second year of providing softball at the school, 6-3. Delta also defeated Durango 10-4. Central survived a late-inning rally to beat the Demons 6-5.

MCHS slipped to 0-4. They will host Montrose for a doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m. Sept. 14 and will host Fruita-Monument for a twin bill beginning at noon Sept. 15 at the Cortez Softball Complex.