The Park Hill softball team (2-8) has had a sluggish start to the fall, losing its last seven games which included defeats against Platte County (6-5) and Park Hill South (5-5).
Park Hill Taylor Landeck attempts to tag Park Hill South’s Curstin Todd in the Lady Panthers 3-1 win over the Lady Trojans on Sept. 12.
Two times in the short season, Platte County and Park Hill stepped onto the same field to compete and both times the Lady Pirates came out on top. Platte County barely slid past Park Hill by a score of 3-2 in the Greater Kansas City Tournament on August 27, before the Lady Pirates had a more comfortable 11-1 win over the Lady Trojans in regular season action on September 6.
Park Hill struck first when Lauren Oakley singled on a ground ball and sent Alison Gonier home in the top of the opening inning. The Lady Trojans only had two more hits for the rest of the game and failed to score another run.
Platte County scored one run in each of the first three innings – with RBIs from Avery Webster, Abby Reynolds and Takayla Lawson – before a massive 6-run fifth inning to push the margin to 9-1. Park Hill forced two outs in the first three Platte County batters, but an RBI double by Mackenzie Shields was the first of four Lady Pirate hits in the inning.
Kallie Hitzelberger pitched for six innings and had two strikeouts. Park Hill had Brooklynn Bertoncinol and Kylee Page share the mound and combine for four strikeouts.
Platte County reached a .500 record with the win, but fell to a 4-5 record when the Lady Pirates lost 5-4 against Smithville on September 7. Platte County bounced back with a pair of massive wins over William Chrisman (4-7) on September 8 and Raytown (0-5) on September 12 when the Lady Pirates outscored their opponents 33-4.
Following the loss to Platte County, Park Hill had a rough outing on the road against Staley (6-6) when the home team won 12-1 on September 8. Most recently, Park Hill South bested Park Hill 3-1 on September 12 as the Lady Panthers have crawled out of an 0-4 hole to reach .500 and 2-0 in the Silver Division.
Park Hill South started off the fall sluggish, losing its opening four games – two in regular season play and the first two contests in the Christina Freeman Invitational Tournament in Joplin, Missouri – before winning the next three games. When the tournament concluded, Park Hill South head softball coach Josh Walker officially reached 250 career wins as a coach when he helped lead the Lady Panthers to a 3-4 record at the time.
Park Hill South fell short 15-9 in its next game against Kearney (5-3) on September 6, before shutting out Lee’s Summit North (4-10) in the first game of conference play on September 8. The Lady Panthers won 10-0 – scoring seven runs in the bottom of the fourth inning – led by Bayli Middleton with two hits and five RBIs.
The Lady Trojans and the Lady Panthers will play in the Park Hill South Tournament at Tiffany Hills Park that lasts from September 16 to September 17. Platte County will head to Nebraska on those same days to compete in the Papillion-La Vista Tournament.