RANGELY | The end of the season for any high school baseball team in any classification in Colorado is crazy at this point due to Mother Nature and the winter the state endured. Rain outs, lack of umpires, and unplayable field conditions are at the top of the list of numerous reasons for baseball games being moved to later dates. This was the case for the Rangely Panthers and their game against the North Fork Miners. On Tuesday, May 9 the Panthers had to forego their Springfest celebrations for the seniors, their last time to celebrate the school year, to head to Hotchkiss, Colorado, to take on the Miners. The game was rescheduled from earlier in the season.
The Miners struck first offensively scoring three runs on two outs in the bottom of the first inning. The Panthers answered back in the top of the second inning after sophomore Marcos Quintana lined a single to center field to reach base. Quintana then moved up to second on a passed ball during Kobey Chism’s at-bat. On the next pitch, Chism grounded out to the Miners second basemen. During the play, Quintana moved up to third and then rounded and scored on the play. The Miners matched the Panthers score in the bottom of the second to take a 4-1 lead. The Panthers did not score in innings three, four, and five while the Miners added four runs in the bottom of the third. With the Miners leading 8-1 in the top of the sixth inning, the Panthers added one more run in the top of the sixth, but the Miners scratched that when they added two runs and held a 10-2 advantage going into the last inning. With one out remaining in the game, the Panthers still did not have any runners on base. That changed when the next four Panther hitters scored to bring the game to 10-6. The game ended with the bases loaded for the Panthers and a line drive to centerfield was caught by the Miners.
Offensively, the Panthers were led by Marcos Quintana who reached base safely in all four of his at-bats. Quintana had two singles, a double and a walk on the day. The next top performers for the Panthers were seniors Kevin Wren and Luis Quintana, and junior Dalton LeBleu. Luis Quintana and LeBleu both went 2-4 at the plate with Wren collecting a double on the day. Senior Drake Miller, junior Kobey Chism, and sophomore Tristan Scott all collected one single on the day to round out the Panther offense.
The Panthers then hosted the Moffat County Bulldogs to get back on the winning side against another upper classification team. The Bulldogs came into the game with an 8-10 overall record on the season and the Panthers were sitting at 9-8. Both teams looked to be willing to take the lead at any point in the game, but each team was able to match the previous score through the first four innings. The Panthers held a one run advantage through the first four innings at 8-7. The Bulldogs tied the game up in the top of the sixth and the two teams both went scoreless in the seventh inning leaving the game tied and headed towards extra innings.
The Bulldogs jumped out to a 10-8 lead in the top of the eighth inning. With the Panthers facing their ninth loss of the season, the Panthers scored two runs on a single by Marcos Quintana with the bases loaded that scored Kevin Wren and Dalton LeBleu. The game headed to the ninth inning and both teams failed to have a baserunner reach second base safely in the inning. The Panthers held the Bulldogs scoreless in the top of the tenth inning. For the Panthers Dalton LeBleu led the inning off with a single up the middle of the field to center field. On a 1-0 wild pitch to Marcos Quintana, LeBleu moved up to second base. LeBleu then advanced to third base on an errant throw by the Bulldogs catcher. Now the Panthers had the winning run on third base with no outs. Quintana lined the next pitch, passed the Bulldogs shortstop and LeBleu scored the Panthers 11th win to take home the win.
With the win, the Panthers moved to 10-8 overall and they remained in the 23-spot in the CHSAA state playoff picture. The Panthers know they are in the playoffs, but they do not know where at this point they will be playing. The Panthers will look to continue to improve and make a deep run into the 2023 playoff season.
After the game the Panthers celebrated their three senior players and families. Kevin Wren, Luis Quintana, and Drake Miller will all be graduating this weekend. All three members will surely be missed as their leadership, athleticism, and passion are second to none on the team. Most importantly, all three are great people and will continue to impress anyone that they cross paths within their future.
Special to the Herald Times
