CORTEZ – The Panthers to-do list is getting shorter with each passing weekend. Just a week after claiming the program’s fourth-straight league title, M-CHS checked off the next box from their preseason goals – win their regional.
Second-year head coach Jake Huff’s team overcame a slow start in game one, briefly trailing in the early innings before erupting in the fifth frame to pull away with a 14-4 victory over No. 30 Berthoud. Then, the 3A No. 3 Panthers (20-5) carried the hot bats into the regional final against league foe No. 19 Pagosa Springs, never allowing the Pirates to generate any sparks in a smothering 13-0 win.
After junior catcher Easton Pixler snagged a pop-up for the final out in the mercy-rule shortened victory, the Panthers piled around the mound to celebrate, knowing that they’d return to Greeley for the third time in four years.
Playing in high-stakes ball games has become old hat for the half-dozen seniors that picked up a 20-win season for the third time. That experience paid off for M-CHS, as they looked like the more composed team under the pressure cooker of single-elimination baseball.
Junior Tegan Mestas took the ball in game one and battled his way through four innings, allowing just five base runners before being lifted to begin to fifth inning with a 6-3 lead. Junior Michael Krupa took to the hill and preserved the lead in the top half of the inning, thanks in part to some solid defense. Sophomore left fielder Brennan Powell threw out Spartan Anderson Austin trying to stretch a single into a double to keep M-CHS in front 6-4.
That’s when the M-CHS offense took over – the Panthers collected five doubles on the afternoon – several coming in the decisive fifth inning. After sophomore Zye Kuenzler, senior Jaiden Istenes, and senior Bodie Stiegelmeyer loaded the bases with nobody out, senior Parker Conrad drilled a ground-rule double into the gap in right-center, plating two. Powell followed with a double of his own into left field, and suddenly the Panthers had a 10-4 cushion.
“At the beginning of the game, we might have been a little nervous,” said Conrad before classmate Kallan Wirth added, “but once we started hitting, everybody hits.”
Senior Cory Carver singled and stole second before senior Jaris McDonald provided a sacrifice fly and junior Easton Pixler’s single pushed across the sixth run in the inning.
Berthoud’s last gasp saw the Spartans get runners on second and third with no outs, only for Krupa to strike out the next two batters to end the threat. Carver and McDonald provided back-to-back RBI singles in the home half of the sixth inning, with the latter giving M-CHS the mercy-rule walk-off.
M-CHS made sure that game one’s early drama didn’t repeat itself in the regional final. McDonald set down the first six Pagosa Springs batters in order, while M-CHS scored eight times in the opening two frames to put the Pirates out of reach. The M-CHS seniors accounted for 10 of the team’s 13 runs, led by Istenes, Conrad and Wirth’s combined seven runs.
“This is a group that’s been together since first and second grade, so we’re always having fun out there,” said Wirth, before Conrad chimed in, “when we’re having fun, that’s when we’re at our best.”
Huff was able to get his bench an opportunity to savor the regional experience either as a baserunner or with a plate appearance before McDonald closed out his five-inning two-hitter and the orange-and-black mob hoisted the 3A Region 3 champions plaque.
“Our pitchers went out there and shoved it” said Wirth of the pitching staff’s solid afternoon only allowing six hits, “our whole goal is to go throw first-pitch strikes.”
M-CHS enters the state tournament as the No. 3 seed and will face No. 6 seed D’Evelyn (18-7) at noon on Friday, May 22, from University HS in Greeley. The winner of that contest faces the winner of No. 2 Eaton and No. 7 Elizabeth later that afternoon. The Panthers hope to be one of the final four teams left standing at the end of the weekend, which would advance them to the championship weekend on May 29-30.
“This is a big accomplishment – going to state for a third time,” said Conrad, “and hopefully this year we’ll be able to make a run at it.”
