Delta escapes rough weekend of Western Slope Playoff Baseball

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KKCO) - The Delta Panthers Baseball Team made it out of a brutal weekend of playoff baseball on the Western Slope.

Things got off to an odd start when highly ranked Fruita Monument was stunned in the first round of the playoffs against Castle View, losing that game 6-5.

The Rifle Bears went on the road to take on higher seeded Windsor, who ended the Bears run at a final of 10-0.

The Grand Junction Tigers won their first matchup against the Silver Creek Raptors at 9-2, but fell behind 9-0 early in their second game of the day against the Pueblo County Hornets. Grand Junction’s comeback bid came up short at a final of 9-8.

Two Western Slope teams got together for the opening round of the regionals hosted by the Palisade Bulldogs, where the Bulldogs took on the Central Warriors with the Bulldogs taking that game at a final of 8-3. That set up a rematch for Palisade against the Summit Tigers. The Bulldogs and Tigers played twice this year, with the Bulldogs winning both games at 10-5 and 22-1.

This time things went differently with the Tigers putting 10 runs up on Palisade and had the Bulldogs cornered at 10-6 headed into the bottom of the seventh. A Palisade rally fell just short, and the Bulldogs postseason ends at a final of 10-9.

Delta was their region’s host and they were not very welcoming to the opposition, winning game one against the Pagosa Springs Pirates 16-0, then followed it up with a dominant game two against the Sterling Tigers, winning that game at 13-3. The Panthers now will wait to see who their next opponent is.

The Montrose Red Hawks will play their first post season game tomorrow, taking on the Mullen Mustangs in Golden, Colo.

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