A six-game winning streak turned into a three-game losing skid pretty quickly for the Park Hill South baseball team (13-8) before it took down Fort Osage (2-12) in the final game in the Northland Tournament on April 14.
Park Hill South opened the tournament up with a 3-1 loss to Park Hill (5-9) on April 11 and a 13-6 loss to Liberty North (15-5) on April 12. St. Pius X (8-2) defeated the Panthers 5-1 on April 13, but Park Hill South ended the tournament with a 9-0 win after having an 11-hit outing.
Park Hill South’s Aidan Simpson had a triple in the fourth inning against Fort Osage on April 14.
Collin Morris was a huge part in helping the Panthers climb out of the dry spell as the left fielder had three hits and three RBIs in Park Hill South’s first victory in four tries in the Northland Tournament. To score the first run of the game in the top of the third inning, Bryan Wilhoite grounded out, but Hayden Klein scored to put the Panthers up 1-0.
In the top of the fourth inning, Morris reached first base due to an error on the Fort Osage first baseman and Dylan Graebener crossed home plate on the play. Lucas Oitker and Evan Demint added two runs in the top of the fifth inning after Aidan Simpson connected with a triple and the Panthers went up 4-0.
Park Hill South opened the sixth inning with three consecutive triples, starting with Trey Weith. Dylan Love subbed in for Weith as a courtesy runner, then reached home plate when Morris tripled on the next at bat.
Klein gave the Panthers a 6-0 margin with Park Hill South’s third triple of the inning, as Morris scored. Michael Cook grounded out and Klein crossed home plate to close out the inning.
In the top of the seventh inning, Morris ended his impressive offensive performance when he hit another triple. The Panthers had two runners score on the play: Aiden Carrizzo and Will Andrews.
While Park Hill South bounced back, it dropped a Kansas City Suburban Conference Red Division game as St. Joseph’s Central (7-9) came to town and won 11-1 on April 19. The Panthers will look to get things back on track when they head to Oak Park (14-5) on April 20.