With three wins in three days, the Montezuma-Cortez High School baseball team captured first place in the Cortez Tournament and improved its record to 4-1 on the season.
On the weekend, M-CHS’s starting pitchers gave up no earned runs and walked just three batters.
“It felt good,” said M-CHS manager Travis Greenlee. “Our starting pitching speaks for itself. They did a great job and we had a lot of guys doing things behind them to make that happen.”
McGee stifles Pagosa Springs
Opening the tournament at home against Pagosa Springs on March 12, M-CHS benefited from an outstanding pitching performance by Konnar McGee and won 13-0 in five innings.
Mixing an effective fastball with a deceptive changeup, the senior pitched five innings and registered the first no-hitter of his career.
“I’ve thrown a couple of games that were close, but that was my first true no-hitter,” said McGee. “(Catcher Eddie Martinez) was giving me good locations and I was hitting my spots well.”
Also contributing to McGee’s success on the mound was the comfort of an early Panthers lead, which came courtesy of a four-run first inning that included RBI singles by the Panthers pitcher and senior Ian Roberson.
“I have to give credit to my teammates for getting on base,” said the senior. “I was able to get some good hits and drive in some runs.”
Laymon confounds Monticello
Playing its second game of the tournament against Monticello at home on March 13, M-CHS received an outstanding pitching performance from Andrew Laymon and won 11-0 in five innings.
Like McGee was one day before, Laymon was completely throughout the contest, allowing just hit in the complete game shutout.
“I was really hitting my spots and that’s what I worked on in the offseason,” said the junior. “My arm felt great and I just went from there.”
A two-out triple to right-center field by Roberson with the bases loaded in the first inning put M-CHS ahead 3-0. The Panthers added five more in the second inning after multiple Monticello errors and cruised to the victory.
Black shuts down Shiprock
Wrapping up the three game tournament against Shiprock on March 14, M-CHS benefited from the pitching of Dayne Black and several stellar plays in route to a 5-2 win.
Black pitched five scoreless innings in the victory and cranked a long triple to right center field in the bottom of the fourth inning, which put M-CHS ahead 2-0 at the time.
“I’ve been working really hard in the offseason to get stronger and have more endurance and it paid off today,” said the senior.
With M-CHS leading 5-0 in the top of the sixth inning, Shiprock loaded the bases against junior relief pitcher Cordell Ridings, before senior first baseman Bridger Brenner snared a line-drive and stepped on first base for an inning-ending double play.
After allowing two runs in the top of the seventh inning, M-CHS relief pitcher Taren Laymon took the mound with two outs and educed a game-ending fly ball to center field to secure M-CHS’s win.
Next up for the Panthers will be the Aztec Tournament, which will take place in Aztec, N.M., March 19-21.
“We have to get more disciplined at the plate,” said Greenlee, when asked how his team can improve this weekend. “We have to know what the pitch is that we want to hit and not try to do too much with it. Base hits are going to win games.”