The Park Hill South baseball team (2-0) is off to an impressive start to the spring, outscoring its first two opponents of the season 27-12.
The Panthers started the season off with a 6-2 victory over Shawnee Mission Northwest (0-1) on March 17. Aaron Boutz, Quinton Chindamo and Evan Demint combined for seven strikeouts on the mound on the day.
Bryan Wilhoite and Demint both doubled in the contest and Trenton Parker had three batted balls. Brody Hufft had two hits and two RBIs and Michael Cook had two hits.
The second game of the spring – and Park Hill South’s home opener – was a 21-10 routing against Smith-Cotton (0-2) on March 20. The Tigers went up 2-0 in the top of the first inning before the Panthers rattled off 13 straight runs.
With one out on the board and a 2-0 deficit, Hufft tied the game up with a 2-run homer. Park Hill South added seven more runs in the inning, but it almost ended with a 2-2 tie as Quinton Chindamo reached third base on an error while stealing with two outs.
Park Hill South’s Quinton Chindamo was on the mound of the Panthers 21-10 home opening routing over Smith-Cotton on March 20.
Brock Harmon, Wilhoite, Demint and Collin Morris all had RBIs in the inning to put the Panthers up 9-2. Chindamo struck out two of the first three Tigers in the ensuing inning and Wilhoite caught a pop fly to send the Panthers back to the dugout.
Harman singled and Bryce Aldridge doubled to put two runners on to start the inning and eventually crossed home plate. Boutz had an RBI single and Wilhoite converted on a 2-RBI double to put Park Hill South ahead 12-2.
Seth Williams had an RBI single to close out the inning as the Tigers switched pitchers and struck out the last three Panther batters. Smith-Cotton recovered in the top of the third inning and added four runs, cutting the deficit to 13-6 but Park Hill South matched that with four runs itself.
The Tigers scored one more run in the top of the fourth inning and for the third consecutive inning, the Panthers scored four runs. Christian Denig was the first of four Panthers to cross home plate in the inning, doing so off a single by Harmon, then Aldridge reached first base on an error and Boutz loaded the bases with a single.
Aidan Bui was walked to send Harmon home before Demint grounded out and Aldridge scored. Smith-Cotton scored three more runs in the top of the fifth inning and Park Hill South didn’t bat again, winning by 11 runs
The Panthers erupted for 19 hits on the day, led by Harmon, Boutz and Wilhoite with three apiece; Wilhoite added five RBIs and Boutz had two RBIs. Demint, Morris, Hufft and Aldridge all had two hits as Hufft led that group with four RBIs.
The Panthers haven’t started 2-0 since 2019 when they followed that up with six straight losses and will look to keep history from repeating itself this go-round. Park Hill South will host Shawnee Mission North on March 22.