The Park Hill (11-18) and Park Hill South (10-19) softball teams both finished the regular season off with a loss ahead of the Class 5 District 8 Tournament.
Park Hill South’s Curstin Todd makes contact early in the Lady Panthers 7-0 loss in the regular season finale on Oct. 6 as they head into the Class 5 District 8 Tournament as the No. 5 seed.
Park Hill South fell to Staley (15-12) 7-0 and Park Hill lost 12-3 at Liberty (22-8) on Oct. 6 as both squads enter postseason play in the same district. The Lady Panthers entered the Staley matchup with two straight wins against Lee’s Summit (3-21-3) and Liberty but was unable to put any runs on the scoreboard against the Lady Falcons.
The Lady Trojans were in a similar boat as they entered the regular season finale with four consecutive victories, which was their longest winning streak of the fall. After losing the opening two games of the Kewpie Classic Softball Tournament on Sept. 30, Park Hill defeated Ursuline Academy (7-20) and Smith-Cotton (9-20) by a combined score of 26-3 on Oct. 1 to close out the tournament.
The Lady Trojans brought that momentum into non-tournament play, taking down Lee’s Summit North (12-24) on the road 13-11 on Oct. 3 and beating Lee’s Summit 9-4 in the home finale on Oct. 4. Park Hill added three wins to its win total from a year ago with the postseason ahead.
The Class 5 District 8 Tournament will be at Creekside Complex and started on Oct. 11. Park Hill, who is the No. 6 seed, was scheduled to play Staley, who is the No. 3 seed, as the Lady Falcons have outscored the Lady Trojans 22-2 in the two regular season matchups this fall.
Park Hill South is the No. 5 seed and took on St. Joseph’s Central (17-11-1) – who eliminated the Lady Panthers by a 2-1 margin last postseason – in the first round. The district semifinals are on Oct. 12 and the district championship is on Oct. 13.