Thinking "on" the fly as well as beneath one, senior Austin Bushnell had little time to do either behind the plate with the second of last Saturday's two games wanting to turn in favor of the enemy.
But with the bases loaded and one out, and Montezuma-Cortez's top three hitters eagerly anticipating their second plate appearances against Andrew Morgan, Bayfield's catcher somehow managed to glance left, then right, and finally towards the overcast sky to first spot Panther Andrew Medina's pop foul - which barely blooped ten feet into the air - and then squeeze it while falling on his back, effectively killing the rally.
"Boy, it sure did!" declared BHS head coach Danny Petrie. "That one that popped up right above his head there . I don't know how he caught it, but he did! It was amazing - a great catch."
Stunned leadoff batter Caleb Compton then flew out to rightfielder Fred Edwards - the winning pitcher in Game 1 - to end the bottom of the second inning. And after the visitors doubled their early lead to four unanswered runs, Bushnell, who'd singled to spark Bayfield's two-run third, again led with the leather, calling off both Morgan and oncoming first baseman Kirk Malone to snare Cutter Matthews' pop foul and strand Cordell Baer at second.
Capitalizing again in a hurry, the Wolverines put the game and 3A Intermountain League doubleheader away in the top of the fourth.
Starting with a walk to leadoff man Jake Brandon, and another to red-hot Michael Gettman - who'd gone 4-for-5 with a double in Game 1, and who was already 2-for-2 in Game 2 - BHS would tag Compton (L; 3.2 IP, 12 H, 12 R, 10 ER, 4 BB, 0 K) for eight runs in a frame featuring back-to-back doubles from Bushnell and Edwards, then consecutive singles by Max McGhehey, designated hitter Kaleb Heck and Morgan at the bottom of Petrie's lineup before Brandon drew another base-on-balls.
"Yeah, he wasn't hitting the zone very much. But when he was, he was throwing that fastball right down," Gettman said.
"We were just able to hit the flat fastball."
Leading by a dozen, Bayfield managed to work out of one last jam in the bottom of the fourth as Morgan (W; 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K) fanned M-CHS two-hole hitter Coby Baer, who was swinging for the fences with the sacks again packed.
"I was ready to pitch. I hadn't pitched in two weeks, so I really wanted to," said Morgan, who'd dealt two innings of one-hit ball (with three strikeouts) in relief of Edwards to secure BHS' earlier 8-2 victory.
Brandon replaced Morgan for the bottom of the fifth, and after Cordell Baer beat out an infield single with one away, the Wolverines came up with one last shutout-saving highlight to punctuate the day at McAndrew Field.
"We weren't relying on strikeouts," said Gettman. "Just getting the ball in the field and making plays."
"I.had a ton of help from the defense," Edwards noted, after scattering seven hits in his five Game 1 innings. "They were hitting hard, but we were just fielding everything cleanly. A lot of thanks to my team for that!"
After Baer swiped second, Matthews grounded a ball to shortstop Hayden Farmer, shifted over from third base to make room for Morgan with starting shortstop Hub Brandon moved to man second. But Farmer's throw reached Malone on the bounce, allowing Matthews to reach.
But the play wasn't yet over. Gambling unsuccessfully, Baer attempted to race to third, but Malone zipped a perfect throw to Morgan, who made the tag for the second out.
Jake Brandon then whiffed Isiah Pena to boost Bayfield to 4-0 in the IML and 7-2 overall.
With junior Jasen Engel receiving the Game 1 loss after surrendering six runs (five earned) on nine hits with four walks and five K's, the Panthers slipped to 2-2 in league, 3-7 overall.
"We've always had a little bit of a rivalry with Cortez," said Edwards. "Not a big one, but a little bit so it's great to come out here and win."
"We weren't as hot as we were against Pagosa," Gettman said, referring to BHS' 12-2, 11-4 sweep of Pagosa Springs at home Wednesday, April 5, "and we just decided we needed to come out hot."
None came hotter than Gettman, who finished a combined 7-for-8 with three runs and two RBI. Bushnell went 3-6 with two walks, scored twice and plated three.
Edwards went 3-4 in Game 1, then 1-4 in Game 2 and scored four times.
McGhehey went 1-2 with a walk and sacrifice fly in Game 1, then went 2-4 in Game 2 with a triple (his first at-bat in the contest also went for three bases after Cordell Baer bungled it in deep center), RBI and three runs.
Heck was a strong 3-4 with a run and two RBI in Game 2, and Morgan - hit by a pitch in his only Game 1 plate appearance - went 1-3 with a walk, run and an RBI.
"They're bringing the sticks," grinned Petrie.
"Overall, I think the boys are starting to come together."
"They're doing the little things now," he continued.
"They're becoming united and they've got a common goal. Everybody's working hard together, and nobody's better than anybody; we're doing it as a team."
A true test of that assessment will come at 4:00 p.m. today at Wolverine Field, as Paonia makes a rare visit after recently being added to BHS' schedule.
Still ranked #1 in the most recent CHSAANow.com Class 2A poll (issued 4/10), the vaunted Eagles stood 9-0 overall, 3-0 in the Western Slope League prior to visiting 5A Grand Junction Tuesday evening.
On the verge of re-cracking the Class 3A rankings' top-ten, Bayfield will resume Intermountain League work tomorrow in La Jara with a doubleheader at Centauri (5-6, 1-3 IML).
First pitch is set for 11 a.m.
