October is a great time to have the bats going.
With the postseason on the horizon, the Montezuma-Cortez softball team is catching its stride at the plate. The Panthers pounded hits all over the diamond in an emphatic 12-5 victory over Eagle Valley in the final home game of the regular season.
Twenty-four hours earlier, the Panthers (12-7) traveled to Delta for a makeup pair of games against Basalt, amassing 30 runs in a 10-6, 20-10 sweep of the Longhorns.
After junior Presley Frost pitched a scoreless top of the first, the Panthers wasted no time getting into the score column. Junior Alexis Cornett, senior Morgan Short and junior Alyssa Cornett rattled off three consecutive singles at the top of the order. All three would come around to score in a tone-setting opening inning.
The visiting Devils responded with a run in the second inning before the Panthers got right back to work. Senior Kailey Case and junior Taelynn Comsky crossed home in the inning as the Panthers put up another crooked number to take a 5-1 edge.
The Panthers would continue to push runs across, with Short rocketing an RBI triple and Alexis Cornett adding a two-run single to put the Panthers up 10-3 after the fourth inning. Case pushed two more runs across with her second hit of the afternoon to close out the scoring for the Panthers.
From there, senior Taylor Comisky helped shut the door with two innings in the circle, snuffing out an Eagle Valley threat with the bases loaded in the sixth, before freshman Taiah Wilson finished off the game in the seventh.
Short and Alexis Cornett combined to go 7-for-7 from the plate, scoring six runs between the duo. Alyssa Cornett added a pair of RBIs.
Case attributed the offensive output to a revised Panther approach at the plate. “We had a really intense week of practice,” said Case, “just a lot of mechanics work, and it really paid off these last few games.”
With the wins over Basalt, the Panthers leapfrogged the Longhorns in the RPI ratings, sliding up to 14th in the 3A classification.
The home finale saw five seniors soak up the last bits of four years of memories. “It’s bittersweet,” added Case. “We’re going to miss these girls a lot – they’re family.”
However, there are still more chapters to be written for the 2018 Panthers softball squad. “We’ve been talking about our goals ever since freshman year,” said Case. “Now is our time to go out and get them.”
The Panthers will ready themselves for their regular season finale with a visit to Durango before finding out their postseason fate in the 3A Regional tournament.
