It was a shaky start in the spring break sunshine.
But near the end of the game, Kingwood Park closed the gap and had its chances in a big road test at Crosby.
The Panthers were down five runs through three innings and tied it in the top of the sixth with a big two-run homer.
Alas, the Cougars had the last big push as top-of-the-order hitter Andi Owen singled in the go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth and Tori Dahnke picked up her 13th strikeout in setting Kingwood Park in the seventh for the 6-5 win Tuesday afternoon.
Kingwood Park (7-3, 1-1) dropped its first District 18-5A game of the season while Crosby (9-4, 3-0) has won three straight and this was its second one-run game in district play.
What made for a sour start for Kingwood Park were wild pitches and errors. Crosby benefitted from those mistakes as Mackenzie Ross, Elaina Gonzalez and Owen all scored on wild pitches to make it 3-0 through two innings. Juliann Delome doubled to start the third and three batters later, Hannah Daniel singled in two runs for the 5-0 lead.
Kingwood Park coach Lindsay Gregory, who three years ago came to the school after a stint as an assistant coach with the Cougars, knew this would be a tough game.
“Lots of playoff experience on that side,” Gregory said. “I know because I lived it. Their players have been in those big moments and in those big games. Experience goes a long way in games like this, so every opportunity we get out here to compete against a really good team is going to make us better in the long run.”
Kingwood Park was held hitless through the first three innings, but got going in the fourth.
Samantha Barnes scored on an RBI single by Allie Minick. Abbey Papadimitriou then scored from third as Crosby unsuccessfully tried to catch a runner stealing second. Minnick then scored on a hard-hit ball by Addi Gomez ,which went through the second baseman for an error.
After a scoreless fifth inning, Papadimitriou hammered an opposite-field double off the right field wall to start the sixth. After advancing to third on a wild pitch, the senior scored as Keilee Brown put a charge in a two-run homer over the left-center field wall to tie the game up.
It was the second straight game Kingwood Park saw a first-time varsity home run hitter. Minick did the same in a 15-0 win over Pasadena back on Friday.
“That’s her first of her career,” Gregory said of Brown. “Another sophomore stepping up in a big moment when we needed it the most and making things happen. She’s a workhorse. She’s going to be the one getting extra work and talking with our coaching staff between at-bats to make sure that the appropriate adjustment is made. She just went in there and executed.”
Unfortunately that was the last spark of the game for Kingwood Park as the last five batters went down in order.
Minick went all six innings in the circle with one earned run allowed. She gave up six free passes – five of which came in the first two innings before settling in. She allowed four hits and struck out one.
“The fight is exactly what I wanted to see,” Gregory said. “I knew the game wasn’t over. We could be down five runs, ten runs, whatever it is, but our culture never lets us give up. We’re relentless and we’ve talked about that since Day 1. So that is a bright pot, but it just felt like too little, too late.”
It was Kingwood Park’s tightest loss so far this season as the other two were lopsided to defeats at Port Neches-Groves back on Feb. 28.
Crosby is now 11-9 all-time against the Panthers. It was the first meeting between the two since Kingwood Park won a 4-3 game in 2023. The Cougars and Panthers meet again at Kingwood Park on April 4.
“Our season doesn’t end because we lost today,” Gregory said. “Everything we want to accomplish is still in front of us for sure.”
The Panthers host West Fork on Friday.
Kingwood Park sophomore left fielder Hadley Heineman (15) makes a great catch at the wall March 11, 2025 against Crosby. (Chris Zorzi/SportCast Media)
