Trojans look to heat up bats

By Bill Knust

While wins have been tough to come by for Park Hill High this season, a 1-0 win against Oak Park on Monday, May 5, will do a lot to boost its confidence heading into district baseball play.

The Trojans begin the Class 4 District 16 Tournament on Monday, May 12, with a game against St. Joseph Central. The two teams split their regular-season series, with Central defeating Park Hill at home 8-3 on April 2, and Park Hill knocking off Central 10-4 on April 29.

Park Hill got an excellent pitching performance from sophomore Albert Minnis in the 1-0 win against the Northmen on Monday. Minnis kept Oak Park off balance, except for a spot of trouble in the sixth, and went seven innings for the complete-game shutout.

Sophomore catcher Nick Fox could not have been happier with Minnis’ performance.

“He threw great,” Fox said. “He hit his spots every time. His game plan is to go in there and keep the other team off guard. That is what he does.”

The two teams were deadlocked at 0-0 when a leadoff walk, sacrifice bunt and double brought home the winning run in the bottom of the sixth.

Fox said the win came at the right time.

“This is great,” he said. “Our season has been kind of rough. Beating a rival like that is great.”

Even though the Trojans’ bats have not been clicking this season, coach Greg Reynolds knows all it takes is a little hot streak.

“If we can get (our hitting) fixed by Monday and get on a little run, anything can happen,” Reynolds said. “I’ve seen some teams win in the district championships that didn’t have great records. They just get hot at the right time and got some good pitching.”

However, Reynolds knows there is a big difference in saying it and doing it, especially with the quality of teams that are in District 16.

“There is no easy team in the district,” he said. “St. Joe Central, we’ve lost to them, they have four or five really good hitters in the front of their lineup, and they put pressure on you. If you get ahead of them, you have a good chance. … Now that we’ve shown we can beat a team like Oak Park, even though they have some key injuries going on right now, that is good. Liberty may be the second hottest team in the city. It is not going to be easy no matter how you look at it.”

Sports writer Bill Knust can be reached at 389-6605 or billknust@npgco.com.