Park Hill senior Bryson Augustyn swings at a pitch in the Class 6 District 8 Semifinals on May 16.
LIBERTY – Playing spoiler in the opening round of the Class 6 District 8 Baseball Tournament ended up being the limit for Park Hill (13-22), which failed to dethrone the two-time reigning state champions in the semifinals.
Liberty North (30-8) opened districts with a dominating 15-0 win over North Kansas City (2-23), walking into the matchup with Park Hill without a postseason loss in 1,093 days at the time. The Eagles ended the Trojans’ season with a 7-2 victory at Liberty North High School on May 16.
The No. 1 seed set the tone early, producing seven runs on just as many hits in the first two innings alone. Park Hill sophomore Caelin Bradford doubled to right field with two outs in the first inning followed by second inning singles by Logan Hampton and Travis Porter and the No. 5 seed left all three runners on base.
The Trojans were finally able to turn some hits into runs in the third inning, which ended up being their final two runs of the spring. Nicholas Huckabey was first batter of the inning, being walked and ended up all the way home on a wild pitch two batters later.
Tyson Kiser doubled to right field in the second at-bat and scored on a ground ball by Kaeden Pak on a play where the senior was thrown out at first. Bryve Augustyn grounded out for the third out and the score was 7-2 midway through the third inning and no more runs were scored by either team.
Porter doubled in the fourth inning and Hampton singled in the sixth inning for the fifth and sixth hits by Park Hill, while neither were able to find their way home. Logan Conley was the second Trojan pitcher on the mound and in the fourth inning with two outs, he walked three straight batters and was relieved by Bradford who forced a pop fly in the next at-bat to close out the inning.
Conley had one strikeout in just over two innings, a feat that starter Augustyn and reliever Bradford didn’t have. Hampton and Porter each had two hits, combining for four of the Trojans’ six.
Park Hill had an up-and-down season, entering the postseason with three straight losses – and a 3-7 record in its last 10 games – before upsetting fourth-seeded Oak Park (22-15) on May 15. The game opened with a single by Huckabey and Kiser to put two runners on and Bradford had a sacrifice fly to score one in the first inning.
Two innings later, Augusytn had a 2-RBI double on a line drive to center field, scoring Huckabey and Bradford – who singled earlier in the inning. The 3-0 lead held until Oak Park scored one in the bottom of the seventh inning on a solo home run.
Six Trojans had one hit and Huckabey led the offense, going 2-for-4, and freshman Hayes Pratt earned the win with five strikeouts. That ended up being Jon Davis’ first postseason win since taking over the Park Hill program last spring.