After a challenging start to the season, Park Hill’s softball team responded well with a big week that included a pair of conference victories and a runner-up tournament finish.
The recent stretch, where the Trojans went 4-1, pulled them above .500 for the first time since the season began. They relied on a mix of veteran leaders and key contributions from several freshmen.
Park Hill has turned to senior Mandia Bock to handle pitching duties while also remaining an offensive threat.
Park Hill opened the conference play with a 12-0 run-rule victory over St. Joseph Central on Sept. 8, where senior pitcher Mandia Bock earned the win with four scoreless innings and eight strikeouts before sophomore Ella Parmalee finished it with a pair of strikeouts in the fifth.
Freshman shortstop Mahlia Sheets led the offensive splurge from the leadoff spot, driving in four runs while going 3-for-4 at the plate. Junior left fielder Nora Dougherty also produced a multi-RBI game, using a two-RBI single to give the Trojans an 8-0 lead in the first inning before the Trojans added another run in the second inning and three more in the fourth.
Park Hill had another run-rule victory on Sept. 9, when they defeated Park Hill South 15-3 in six innings. Bock led from the pitching circle once again, striking out nine batters through five scoreless innings before adding a 10th strikeout in the sixth.
Junior catcher Elliott Harris joined forces with freshman second baseman Jovie Young to generate three-RBI performances. Young’s first career RBI came in the fourth inning from a two-out triple to drive in Park Hill’s fourth run, with Harris following in the fifth inning as she smashed a two-run home run to left-center field.
Carrying a 6-0 lead after five innings, Park Hill used a nine-run sixth inning to take an even more commanding 15-0 lead as Young, Dougherty, Harris, Devyn Zoellner, Kaiya Maske and Jade Tucker all drove in runs. South ended Bock’s shutout bid in the sixth before falling two runs short of extending the game another inning.
Park Hill had a strong showing at the Vivian Jo Memorial Take the Lake Tournament at Ballparks National near Lake of the Ozarks. Appearing in the tournament for a second straight year, the Trojans went 2-1.
The weekend tournament started with a pair of victories on Sept. 11, defeating Lee’s Summit 4-2 before a 4-0 triumph over St. Elizabeth.
First-baseman Devyn Zoellner is among the freshmen who have stood out early on this season for Park Hill.
Bock was impactful from the circle and at the plate against Lee’s Summit, using an RBI double to break the deadlock in the first inning before adding another insurance run with an RBI single in the fifth, while also striking out eight batters in six innings. Additional run support came from Zoellner, who hit her first career home run in the fourth inning by pulling a 1-and-2 pitch over the left field wall for a two-run blast.
Bock returned to the circle for Park Hill’s shutout victory over St. Elizabeth, striking out 10 of 25 batters faced on 89 pitches. Again, Bock broke the deadlock with an RBI single in the third inning, with another run scoring on an error in the fourth before Harris belted her third homer of the season to center field.
Park Hill’s tournament appearance concluded on Sept. 12, when they fell to an 11-1 defeat against Capital City. After playing error-free softball the first two games of the tournament, mistakes plagued the Trojans to end their four-game winning streak with five unearned runs scoring across the team’s five errors.
The Trojans got back to winning ways with a 2-1 victory over Liberty on Sept. 14, using Bock’s 13-strikeout performance to grab a vital conference win. Zoellner had two critical RBIs, driving in the game’s opening run in the fourth inning before the game-winning run in the sixth.
The Trojans continue conference action with matchups against Oak Park (Sept. 15) and North Kansas City (Sept. 17) before the Park Hill South Tournament on Sept. 18-19 at Tiffany Hills Sports Complex.