Amanda Alexander
Former Park Hill basketball player Amanda Alexander will be coming home to finish her college playing career.
Amanda Alexander is one of three new signees announced by Park women’s coach Kenneth Cooper. Alexander is transferring in from Culver-Stockton College in Canton, Mo.
Alexander will be a junior this upcoming season after playing for the NAIA team.
The 5-foot-7 guard was a starter for the Trojans since her freshman year and earned honorable mention all-conference honors her first two years and moved up to first team as a junior.
Joining Alexander is Jasmine Ellis from Webster Groves High School in the St. Louis area and Jade Winter.
Ellis is a 5-8 guard that averaged two points per game for the Class 5 school.
Winter is a native of Derby, Kan., and will transfer after one year at Fort Scott (Kan.) Community College. The 5-9 guard averaged 8.9 points, 3.4 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.5 steals per game in 28 games for the Greyhounds.
Women’s golf
readies for finale
The Park women’s golf team has a third and fourth place finish among the three tournaments this spring.
The regular season finale is coming up as the Pirates host the Virginia McCoy Intercollegiate, played at The Deuce at The National Golf Club of Kansas City on April 16-17.
The most recent tournament, on March 26-27, saw the Pirates took third in the Kansas Wesleyan Invitational in Salina, Kan. Leeah Shipley was fourth with a two-day score of 160, three shots off the lead, for Park. Rachel Hoffman (171, 11th), Park Hill’s Lexi Grego (177, t13th) and Gen Stelmacovich (178, 15th) also placed high for the Pirates.
Hoffman was 42nd at the Missouri Western Holiday Inn Express Classic on March 19-20 in St. Joseph. The Pirates shot 739 as a team, betting two Division II schools — Upper Iowa and Southwest Baptist.
Shipley had a runner-up finish for the Park in the Ottawa Invitational on March 13 in Lawrence, Kan. Hoffman was 12th, helping the Pirates take fourth.
More AMC honors
After sweeping the track and field honors the week prior, Park swept the golf honors when the American Midwest Conference announced its weekly honors on Monday, April 2.
Ryan Tattan and Leeah Shipley were named the men’s and women’s golfer of the week, respectively, while Nicholas Rotich was the men’s track athlete of the week.
Tattan finished second in the Kansas Wesleyan Invitational, helping the Pirates win the team title. Shipley, from Smithville, took fourth in the same meet and helped Park take third place.
Rotich, a junior from Eldoret, Kenya, won the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the Emporia State Relays and was part of the fourth-place 4x800-meter relay team.
Record setting day
The Park baseball team set numerous records in its two-game sweep of Hannibal-LaGrange on Thursday, April 5.
The Pirates won 24-2 and 13-1 and the two-game tally is the most runs scored in a doubleheader. The 24 runs in the opening game is a school record, while the 22-run margin of victory is also a record.
Park went up 11-1 in the third inning thanks to an eight-run frame that featured a two-run home run by David Paffenroth and a grand slam by Connor Simpson.
A nine-run seventh inning blew the game open, helping Park score 24 runs. Dylan McGuire had a three-run homer during the frame, which accounted for the final tally.
Paffenroth drove in three more runs in the second game, while Simpson, from Liberty, finished the day with six RBI in the two games.
Michael Valdivia was 3-for-3 with a three-run homer in the second game.
Park plays at William Woods this weekend, starting with a single game on Friday, April 13, and then a doubleheader on Saturday, April 14.
Contributed photo/Park Athletics
Park University shorstop Tim Schaareman waits for a pick off throw on a stolen base attempt during a game earlier this season. The Park baseball team has set school records in recent weeks with their play on the field.