{"id":40985,"date":"2022-04-21T18:04:18","date_gmt":"2022-04-22T00:04:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/m-chs-primed-for-league-play-after-win-against-del-norte\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:58:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:58:41","slug":"m-chs-primed-for-league-play-after-win-against-del-norte","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/m-chs-primed-for-league-play-after-win-against-del-norte\/","title":{"rendered":"M-CHS primed for league play after win against Del Norte"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Cleanup
Cleanup hitter sophomore Miles Frost smacks a double in the gap to get the scoring started with two RBIs. (Jerry Cohoe\/Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

The sound of aluminum pinging a fastball had fallen silent at McAndrew Field.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, it returned with a bang.<\/p>\n

In their first home game in two weeks, the Montezuma-Cortez Panthers roared back into action Wednesday with an emphatic 13-0 thumping of Del Norte, extending their winning streak to three games and lifting the Panthers back above .500 again.<\/p>\n

Shaking off the rust after the previous week\u2019s snows had postponed their engagement with the Tigers, head coach Tim Passell\u2019s squad seemed to barely skip a beat in the mercy rule-shortened contest.<\/p>\n

Junior Evan Lamunyon calibrated his arm on the mound to near-perfection, mowing through the Tigers (6-6). He fired a complete game to take the win, leaning on a couple of fine outfield grabs in the final inning by freshman Bobby Likes and senior John Carver to seal the shutout.<\/p>\n

\"Evan
Evan LaMunyon pitches a one-hit shutout. (Jerry Cohoe\/Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Junior
Junior Jake Blackmer continue is triple hitting streak with four in the last three games. (Jerry Cohoe\/Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Senior
Senior Trinidad McDonell stole second bases sliding in safe. (Jerry Cohoe\/Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Sophomore
Sophomore Miles Frost stretches for an out to keep the Tigers off the bases. (Jerry Cohoe\/Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Strategy
Strategy time as Del Norte change pitchers. Junior Catcher Braden Hallman, Sophomore Miles Frost, Coach Passell and Junior SS Jake Blackmer. (Jerry Cohoe\/Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Junior
Junior catcher Braden Hallman drives in the final runs of the game to seal the run rule game with a base clearing double. (Jerry Cohoe\/Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Panthers offense, meanwhile, brought a deluge of base hits, rattling the ball into every corner of McAndrew Field \u2013 highlighted by thunderous doubles by sophomore Miles Frost and junior Braden Hallman to plate a steady stream of base runners.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve just been wanting to play,\u201d said Passell of the team\u2019s 18-day layoff, \u201cso it was good to see the bats get going.\u201d<\/p>\n

The heart of the batting order has helped key many of the big Panther rallies, including in Wednesday\u2019s victory. \u201cMiles [Frost] and some of those guys have really been seeing the ball well,\u201d credited Passell, \u201cand our guys have been more dedicated to doing the little things \u2013 moving runners over and laying down bunts.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the win served as a satisfying return to action after two straight weeks of intrasquad competition, the Panthers\u2019 focus quickly shifted to what promises to be a massive week in the Intermountain League. M-CHS (6-5) is the only IML team yet to play a game in the league, but that will change in a hurry, as the Panthers travel to Bayfield (11-4) on Tuesday, April 26 for a doubleheader with the defending league champs. From there, M-CHS returns home to take on Pagosa Springs on Saturday, Apr. 30th.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019ve got the crew that we\u2019re wanting to have to take on Bayfield,\u201d added Passell. \u201cOur guys are hitting the right pitches, which has been the biggest difference between our last few games and when we were struggling earlier this season.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Wolverines sit No. 8 in the most recent CHSAA coaches poll in the 3A classification, while the Panthers have lingered on the fringes of the top 10 for most of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all excited for the week ahead,\u201d said Passell, \u201cand with the way we\u2019re hitting and the depth that we have in pitching, it\u2019ll really serve us well moving into league play and the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Panthers dismantle Tigers, turn focus to IML play<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40986,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-40985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"Website Administrator","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40985"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84818,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40985\/revisions\/84818"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40985"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=40985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}