Delta coaches Luis Meza, center, and Clayton Curtis congratulate 152-pound senior Hunter Brasfield after an upset win sent him into the 4A Region 4 semifinals.
Hotchkiss senior Joe Boyle controls Ruben Chagoya of Basalt to win a 3A Region 1 title. He is one of 7 Hotchkiss state qualifiers.
Hotchkiss and Paonia boys will square off this week on the basketball courts. Both are 6-4 in league play.
Delta senior Brooke Taylor scores two of her 12 points against Summit after grabbing an offensive rebound.
Paonia 195-pounder Tyler “TK” Kendall sets Rangely’s Drew Collins up for a pin.
Paonia freshman Bo Pipher sets TJ Richard of North Park up for a pin in Saturday’s regional semifinal round. He is one of 13 Paonia wrestlers headed to state!
Surrounded by coaches and his dad, Conner Beard signs Letter of Intent to play football for the University of Nebraska Kearney.
Hotchkiss' Jacobe Galley signed a Letter of Intent to play football and study engineering at Colorado Mesa University.
Hotchkiss senior Cody Bartlett signed his National Letter of Intent to run cross-country for Hawaii Pacific University.
Delta’s Austin Hines slides safely into second base against Alamosa’s Mean Moose in a game played in the Lloyd McMillan Baseball Tournament. Delta played a steady game and came away with a 7-2 win.
Delta's Panthers hit a rough stretch against Emery High School and eventually lost to the Utah team leaving them with a 2-1 record in last weekend's Lloyd McMillan Tournament.
The Panthers opened the tournament with Alamosa and earned a 7-2 victory.
A Saturday morning meeting with Emery, Utah ended in a loss for the Panthers when they gave up eight runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Emery eventually scored a 12-5 win.
Delta's final game of the Lloyd McMillan Tournament was with Paonia on Saturday afternoon. After the Eagles tied the game in the top of the seventh, Delta rallied for one run on a Brendan Kortz RBI triple in the bottom of the inning to win 5-4.
Delta 7, Alamosa 2
The Panthers had little trouble getting ahead of the Mean Moose and took a 1-0 lead after one inning after Keaton Reiher had singled and later scored.
Delta picked up four more runs in the bottom of the second on three hits, including a two-run triple by Reiher, to take a 5-0 lead.
Alamosa was struggling with Jordan Sandoval's pitching and the Panthers had just enough hitting offense to maintain a good feel for the game.
Another run in the third made Delta's lead 6-0.
Alamosa finally got a run across the plate in the top of the fifth. A leadoff walk resulted in the first run for the Mean Moose.
Delta, leading 6-1, got a leadoff single from Chris Lopez in the fifth inning that was converted to the Panthers' seventh run.
Alamosa rallied for one more run in the top of the seventh after a triple and a single combined to make the final score 7-2 in favor of the Panthers.
Reiher's three for four day with the bat highlighted Delta's win. When asked about his big day at the plate Reiher had a simple answer to his success. "I look for the first pitch every time."
Reiher had a triple in the second inning and a double in the sixth to go with his first-inning single to lead Delta's offense. The secret to his success so far this season comes from taking plenty of swings during the summer. "I'll take around 100 swings a day during the summer. I use a hitting T or have Dad (assistant coach Steve Reiher) or a friend throw to me."
Emery, Utah 12, Delta 5
Saturday morning's contest against Emery was a defensive struggle for the first two innings. Delta managed to get on the board first after Reiher drew a walk to start the third inning. Tyler Sandoval blasted a triple to score Reiher and scored himself later in the inning for a 2-0 Delta lead.
Emery used a walk, a double and an error to tie the game at 2-2 in the top of the fourth. Delta broke the tie with a single run in the bottom of the inning.
The fifth inning was uneventful for both teams leaving Delta ahead 3-2.
For Emery, the flood gates opened in the sixth inning with eight runs crossing the plate to give the visitors a 10-3 lead entering the bottom of the inning. Delta failed to score as the game moved to the seventh.
Emery and Delta scored twice in their half of the seventh to leave the margin of victory at seven, 12-5.
Tyler Sandoval, Lopez, Austin Hines, and Kenny Wood all had two hits for Delta.
Delta plays in Montrose on Thursday, March 22, at 4 p.m. and then takes on Palisade on Monday at Canyon View Park in Grand Junction at 4 p.m.
