The Park Hill South baseball team earned an important bounce-back victory against Smith-Cotton on Tuesday, March 25.
Coming from a 10-0 home-opener defeat against Staley the previous day, the Panthers created some breathing room in the fourth inning to get back on track against the Smith-Cotton Tigers.
After a scoreless first inning, a leadoff double opened the door for big second inning for Smith-Cotton. After scoring two, Smith-Cotton stranded three runners with the bases loaded.
The Panthers answered in the bottom half of the second after getting the first two batters on base. Junior left fielder Angel Collazo Sanchez drove in the first run on an RBI single to left, followed by Cooper McQueen’s sacrifice fly to tie it up.
Park Hill South’s offense heated up again in the fourth inning. After a leadoff single and another reaching on an error, Collazo bunted the runners up a bag, which paid off when a pitching injury balked in the go-ahead run and a pair of singles put the Panthers up 5-2.
The Panthers had another big inning in the fifth. Collazo hit an RB single to left field before Trenton Parker cleared the bases with a 3-RBI double.
Smith-Cotton got one run back in the sixth inning, only for the damage to be worsened in the bottom half with a pair of RBI singles from Collazo and McQueen to make it 11-3. The Tigers
rallied late to make it 11-6, but fell well short as junior pitcher Willard Schau picked up the win for the Panthers, pitching 5.1 innings with five
strikeouts and three runs. It was the bottom of the Panther lineup that produced in a big way against Smith-Cotton as the No. 8 and 9 hitters, Collazo and McQueen, combined for five RBIs and went 4 for 6 at the plate.
Park Hill South followed the win over Smith-Cotton with a pair of losses to Blue Spring South and Brandon Valley (Sioux Falls, SD). The Panthers got their fifth win of the season on Friday, March 28, when they defeated Roosevelt (Sioux Falls, SD).
At 5-3 this season, the Panthers will look to string a winning streak together as they host Kearney and St. Pius X this week before visiting Raymore-Peculiar.