PARKVILLE – Finishing a baseball season with more wins than losses and then doing it again the following spring is what Park Hill South is known for, and that’s no different this year.
Park Hill South senior Aidan Bui is one of the Panthers top batters coming back.
Park Hill South has finished above .500 in eight of the last nine years – including an 18-16 record a season ago – and a mix of returners and newcomers are set to keep that rolling. Most of the infield is experienced, which includes senior Michael Good who was sidelined in 2023 with an injury and is coming off a winter where he was a Kansas City Suburban Conference Silver Division Honorable Mention on the basketball court.
“Pitching staff wise we don’t have very many innings coming back, but we have a lot of juniors that are going to fulfill some innings,” Park Hill South head baseball coach Josh Walker said. “We pretty much have the whole infield coming back and a couple of pitchers coming back.”
Juniors Quinton Chindamo and Jackson McDonald are the only guys who have previous time on a varsity mound for the Panthers. However, senior Braydon Blonigen moved to the area from Minnesota and adds versatility to the unproven pitching staff.
“I think we will rely mostly on those three guys, but there’s a bunch of others – like Hagen McMahon is a kid who didn’t play last year and is out this year as a junior and he looks good. I can probably name off nine guys we’ll be throwing, so our pitching depth right now looks pretty good,” Walker said.
The Panthers are known for having some talented batters, some of which were a key piece of the offense in previous seasons. Park Hill South has scored five runs or more in all but one season since 2009.
“Christian Denig is a catcher and a relief pitcher for us who is a DH when he’s pitching and he’s one of our better hitters. Michael Good has been hitting the cover off the ball; Casen Lett, Aidan Bui and Brock Harmon have all been hitting pretty well too,” Walker said.
Trenton (T.J.) Parker will be the catcher when Denig isn’t and Max Killoren is another junior who adds depth to Park Hill South. Sophomores Jack Drew and Carson Bjorn bring in young talent and are looking to crack the deep lineup in various ways with some friendly competition.
“They weigh in each practice with a 24-minute conditioning session, and it’s tough to get through, but they have the toughness to get through it and cheer each other on and have each other’s backs. We’re trying to put them through a mental gauntlet to face adversity up front to make sure that they come together instead of tearing each other apart, and they’ve been rising to the challenge,” Walker said.
Although the Panthers have been a respective program for years, it’s been awhile since making a deep postseason run. They haven’t reached a district championship since 2018 and are working on getting back, although they have a tough road.
“The state champion the last three years has come out of our district; I think it’s the toughest district in the state and it’s going to be again this year, so we have our work cut out for us. We’re practicing harder than we ever have, the kids are getting after it and we’re holding them accountable so they’re having to work hard,” Walker said.