The spring season ended similarly for the Park Hill (8-20) and Park Hill South (20-14) baseball teams when both teams were shut out in the Class 6 District 8 Semifinals at Creekside Baseball Complex on May 17.
Park Hill South narrowly took down Oak Park (19-13) in the quarterfinals on May 16 before matching up with the eventual district champion Liberty North (30-9) the next day and falling 8-0. The Eagles have had the Panthers’ number in recent years, winning the last six games dating back to last season.
Park Hill South set a program record with 20 wins this spring. The Panthers say farewell to nine seniors: Hayden Klein, Trey Weith, A.J. Rodriguez, Luke Fricker, Dylan Graebener, Aiden Carizzo, Aidan Simpson, Lucas Oitker and Will Andrews.
Park Hill South senior Luke Fricker helped lead the Panthers to a program record 20 wins this season.
After an up-and-down spring, the season has come to an end for Park Hill with a 12-0 district semifinal loss to Liberty (29-10) on May 17. Park Hill was coming off its best season in program history as it won 21 games last spring but had a less successful year in 2022 as it had four separate losing streaks of four or more losses throughout the season.
Despite the struggles, Park Hill didn’t roll over and go down without a fight when the postseason began. The Trojans took down Staley (22-14) in the Class 6 District 8 Quarterfinals before falling to Liberty in the semifinals.
The Trojans had three singles in the opening two innings but left all three runners on base when the innings ended. The Blue Jays scored one run in the first inning before erupting with 10 runs, and just as many hits, in the ensuing inning.
Brayden Resch came in as a relief pitcher midway through the second inning after the Blue Jays were up 8-0. After a triple and a pair of doubles by Liberty to push the margin to 11 runs, Resch closed out the inning with a strikeout.
In the fourth inning, Park Hill left another runner on after Luke Moore singled and Liberty homered to center field to take a 12-0 lead. With two outs in the top of the fifth inning, Joe Guastelo singled for the Trojans’ final hit of the spring as the ensuing batter, Cade King, struck out and the game came to a close.
Moore had two of the Trojans’ five hits, while Garrison Mertz and Dayton Howard both had one hit. Park Hill will look to bounce back next season when it enters a new era without the talented senior class.