In a much anticipated home debut, Kingwood Park showed out Friday night.
It was the District 18-5A opener at that, and the Panthers laid it on visiting Pasadena for a 15-0 win in three innings.
Kingwood Park (7-2, 1-0) came alive after a tough week to digest a non-district doubleheader loss to Port Neches-Groves a week ago.
The Panthers homered twice, totaled 13 hits, didn’t allow a hit and didn’t make an error against the Eagles (2-3, 0-2).
The best part was maybe the fun things that go along with playing in your own stadium.
“I’ve heard more about their walk-up songs and how excited they were to hear their walk-up songs and names announced for the first time than I ever wanted to hear,” Kingwood Park coach Lindsay Gregory said. “Long-waited, long-overdue and I think it lived up to the hype.”
Sophomore Allie Minick crushed her first career varsity homer in the second inning while also pitching three no-hit innings in the circle. She struck out six and walked three.
That first home run? Core memory made.
“It feels great,” Minick said of the ball she planted over the left-field wall with two runners on. “I was really excited after. My approach at the plate…I’m always first pitch. I was ready.”
Minick’s role has changed since she made varsity as a freshman. Making the start in the home opener was an experience.
“I’m not going to lie, I was really nervous,” Minick said. “Last year, I came in as a closer as a freshman. It was less stressful than it is now. I was really nervous. But I came to the plate and the mound and I was ready.”
After a tough week last week, Gregory was pleased with Minick’s performance against Pasadena.
“Allie looked back to herself compared to how she looked a week ago,” Gregory said.
Minick felt good about it, too.
“I think I pitched one of my best games,” Minick said. “I feel like my velocity was there. I was in the right headspace and I was confident. I wanted to blow it by the other team. That was my mindset.”
Minick got as much support at the plate as one could ask for.
Nine different Panthers had hits and six different players had RBIs.
While Minick was 2-for-2 (triple) with four RBIs,
Kingwood Park also saw senior Abbey Papadimitriou hit a towering three-run homer in the third inning. Ava Klinefelter tripled in the game while pinch-hitter Lexie Barbontin ended the game on the run-rule with a bases-loaded triple.
Samantha Barnes finished with two RBIs while Klinefelter and Hadley Heineman each had one.
“I think our aggressiveness at the plate is everything we wanted to see,” Gregory said. “We’ve been preaching that we’re going to have to score some runs to compete in this district. And they came out and did exactly that. Our lineup one through nine has been producing exactly as they should and our approach to the plate is exactly where we need to be.”
After last week’s losses to PN-G and a bye on Tuesday as district play started, the Panthers had a reset of sorts after playing their first eight games of the season. They played three games last week, but hadn’t had a game since Feb. 18 before that due to struggles with the weather.
“To have a couple days to go back to the basics and get back to those fundamentals and have those type of practices was huge for us,” Gregory said. “I think it played out well for us tonight.”
It also gave some time for senior Addi Gomez to get some extra reps at catcher. She officially took over Friday as junior Kendall Olson will miss an extended amount of time with a hand injury.
“We’re hopeful maybe things go ahead of schedule, but she’s a huge piece of our team and I know that whether she’s on the field or in the dugout, she’s going to continue to excel,” Gregory said.
Kingwood Park returns to action Tuesday at Crosby.
Kingwood Park sophomore Allie Minick (8) slaps hands with head coach Lindsay Gregory after hitting her first varsity home run March 7, 2025. (Chris Zorzi/SportCast Media)
