CORTEZ – M-CHS senior Reagan Veach said it best in the jubilant celebration following the Panthers’ sixth straight win to open the softball season, “We’re always going to fight for our next at-bat.”
Her team’s never-quit attitude spurred one of the program’s biggest comebacks in recent years, erasing a five-run deficit in the sixth to force extra innings, where the Panthers walked off against visiting Delta on sophomore Aubrey Taveira’s RBI hit that drove Veach across as the winning run.
M-CHS (6-0, 5-0 4A/3A WSL) trailed for most of Thursday afternoon’s contest at Englehart Field against another Western Slope League title contender, down 5-3 through three innings, and 10-5 heading into the home half of the sixth, before stirring a rally that ignited the home dugout.
Taveira’s four RBIs led M-CHS in the comeback, while Veach scored in each of her five plate appearances. Junior Ellisia Winter scored three times, drove in two runs, and was one of four Panthers with a multihit afternoon. Seniors Chelsey Kramer and Jayden White added two hits apiece, while White and classmate Annalisa Abeyta shared the pitching load while battling through a potent Delta lineup.
As the wins keep piling up, M-CHS is now just one win shy of matching their 2025 total, and first-year head coach Evan Frost’s Panthers climbed to No. 4 in the CHSAA 3A rankings by nightfall.
“Coach Frost has known us since freshman year, and he knows the level that we hold ourselves to,” said Veach, “so even if we messed up in one area, like hitting, we can make up for it in the field.”
Thursday’s battle provided the sternest test faced by M-CHS thus far, as the Panthers had allowed only three total runs through their previous five wins. White returned to the circle this fall after seeing significant innings as a sophomore, and kept the Panthers in striking distance.
“We’ve been given the confidence that we can do whatever we want to, as long as we put our mind to it,” said White, as she and Abeyta found their groove through the winning streak, “and we keep driving to better.”
The Panthers offense also proved that they could move runners by any means necessary, as some small ball paved the way for the massive late-inning rally.
“That was my first bunt of the season,” Winter said. “We had to try some new things to put the ball in play – we were overswinging at the start of the game, but we changed our approach to make contact.”
When the Panthers snuffed out a Delta (6-4, 2-1 4A/3A WSL) rally in the top of the eighth inning after the visitors restored the lead, the dugout knew that the top of order was primed to take the league back for good. Three hits later, the Panthers piled out of the dugout to celebrate their biggest win of the season to date.
“We started slow, but nobody gave up, and that’s the mentality that we’re trying to teach here, too,” Veach said. “We know we’re going to need that if we want to get back to the postseason.”
M-CHS gets set for some larger schools when they make their annual trip to northern Colorado for a tournament hosted by Berthoud on Sept. 4-5. The Panthers will have a 3A top 10 matchup against the host Spartans to accompany games against 4A Niwot and Thompson Valley, as well as league foe Meeker.
With visions of a league title and beyond, there’s no telling how high the ceiling will be for the Panthers this season. “We’re all playing for each other,” Winter said. “We’re trusting ourselves and our teammates.”
