Park Hill South alternated wins and losses over the weekend in Blue Springs, Mo.
Opening with a win, the Panthers ended up 3-2 in the Blue Springs Tournament with one of the losses coming in extra innings. They beat St. Joseph Central, Webb City and Fort Zumwalt West.
Park Hill South played three on Friday, Sept. 22, starting with Central.
Just three days after shutting out the Indians in Suburban Conference Red Division play, Park Hill South needed a comeback this time. The Panthers trailed 2-0 after giving up two unearned in the bottom of the first inning but came right back with a run on Sam Ahrendt’s one-out triple plus an error.
Park Hill South took the lead for good with three in the third.
Jessie Hagen doubled, Chantice Phillips walked and Meggen Keller scored two with a double. She later scored on a passed ball. Central closed within 4-3, but the Panthers had four in the fifth, while batting around.
The second game was another rematch with Kearney, which won the previous matchup two days earlier. The Bulldogs pulled the sweep with a walkoff single in the bottom of the eighth for a 9-8 win.
Tied 7-7 after seven, Park Hill South took the lead in the eighth with the tiebreaker runner scoring on a bunt and sacrifice fly. The Panthers led 2-0 after the second and 7-0 after the top of the fifth when they batted nine and scored five — two on Phillips’ single, one on Keller’s double, one on Ahrendt’s single and one on Taylor Johnson’s single on consecutive at-bats with two outs.
Kearney scored four in the fifth, two in the sixth and one in the seventh to force extras.
In the final game of the day, Park Hill South never trailed after scoring four in the first of a 12-6 win over Webb City. Kate Kobayashi led off the game with a walk and Hagen (single) and Phillips (RBI double) followed with hits.
The big blow came with six in the fourth, which included a two-run single for Kobayashi, a two-run double for Hagen and two-run home run for Phillips on consecutive at-bats. Hagen finished 3-for-4 with two doubles and two runs scored, while Phillips drove in four for the Panthers.
On Saturday, Sept. 23, Park Hill South started with a 10-1 loss to Blue Springs. The Wildcats scored in four of six innings, and the lone run for Park Hill South came on Keller’s two-out double to left-center in the fourth.
The closing game was a 10-1 win for Park Hill South.
Gracie Dieleman, a junior, allowed seven hits and two walks but limited the Jaguars to just one run in the fifth. Park Hill South scored in five of seven innings with Phillips reaching base four times and scoring three runs. Keller drove in three with a double and a single.
Ahrendt finished 3-for-4 with two singles and a triple, scoring two and driving in two more.
OTHER GAMES
Park Hill South 11, Grain Valley 8, 8 innings
The Panthers overcame a tough start for a nonconference win Monday, Sept. 25 in Grain Valley, Mo.
After allowing four unearned runs in the second, Park Hill South trailed 5-3. The Panthers, who led 3-0 after the top of the first, didn’t take the lead back until the fifth when Hagen doubled and Keller tripled for one run, and Ahrendt added an RBI single and scored on an error to make it 6-5.
Johnson followed with a single and scored on Leslie Callahan’s bunt to complete a four-run inning.
Grain Valley came back with two in the sixth, and Dieleman stranded the potential winning run in the seventh, leading to extra innings. In the eighth, Hagen started a three-run rally with a one-out single, and Keller and Ahrendt followed with singles. Emma Beuerlein came up with the key hit — a two-run single to make it 11-8.
Dieleman worked around a one-out single in the bottom of the eighth.
Truman 4, Park Hill South 1
Ahead of the weekend tournament, the Panthers’ offense was held in check during a Suburban Conference Red Division loss Thursday, Sept. 21 in Independence, Mo.
Kobayashi walked and scored in the top of the first, but Park Hill South ended up with just four hits total — all singles. Truman answered with one in the first and took the lead with two in the fifth off of Dieleman, who allowed only two earned runs in six innings.
Park Hill South dropped to 5-2 in Red Division play pending the result of a Tuesday, Sept. 26 home game with Liberty North (result not available). The Panthers close the league slate Thursday, Sept. 28 at Raytown.
Kearney 8, Park Hill South 2
The Panthers couldn’t overcome an early 3-0 deficit with Kearney pulling away late Wednesday, Sept. 20 at Park Hill South High School in Riverside, Mo.
Down 3-0 after the top of the second, Park Hill South closed within one with a pair of runs in the fifth. Beuerlein hit a one-out single and scored on Callahan’s two-out single. Kobayashi followed with a run-scoring single and stole second but ended up stranded.
Park Hill South managed just one two-out single in the sixth the rest of the way, and Kearney scored in each of the final two innings.
Park Hill South 8, St. Joseph Central 0
Dieleman whirled a one-hit shutout, retiring 20 straight after allowing a single to the game’s leadoff batter.
Despite recording just one strikeout, Dieleman didn’t allow another hit, and an error with two outs in the seventh put Central’s only other runner on base Tuesday, Sept. 19 at Park Hill South High School in Riverside, Mo. Park Hill South’s offense put up eight runs in the first two innings to provide the cushion.
In the first, Kobayashi walked, stole second and scored on Chantice Phillips’ one-out single. The Panthers made it 2-0 when Keller followed with a double.
Park Hill South sent 10 batters to the plate in a seven-run second. Kobayashi had a one-out RBI single, and Hagen followed with a two-run single. Keller, Ahrendt and Johnson added three straight singles with two outs to make it 8-0.
Johnson’s single scored Keller and Ahrendt.