It was dramatic, but the Kingwood Park Panthers are off to a great start to the regular season.
In a game moved up to Monday due to Tuesday’s weather concerns, the Panthers took the lead in the top of the seventh on an Addi Gomez sacrifice fly. Haylee Seales set Huffman-Hargrave down in order on three consecutive pop outs for a 7-6 non-district win.
Gomez’s RBI sacrifice fly scored Allie Minick, which capped a three-run inning. Sophomore Samantha Barnes started off the rally with a double and Abbey Papadimitriou knocked her in with a double of her own. Minick then singled in Papadimitriou to tie the game.
Huffman (0-1) led Kingwood Park (1-0) from the third inning until that point.
The Panthers started strong with a three-run first inning. Papadimitriou hammered a two-run triple to left field and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Minick.
Tied 3-3 at the time, Gomez singled in Hadley Heineman in the top of third.
The Falcons scored once in the first, twice in the second and three times in the third for a 6-4 lead.
Papadimitriou finished 2-for-4 with three RBIs. Minick was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and Gomez was 1-for-4 with two RBIs. Barnes had two hits and two runs scored. Keilee Brown was 2-for-3 (both doubles).
Seales took the win in relief by going 3 ⅔ innings after Minick started. Seales struck out five and allowed just one hit while keeping Huffman off the board.
Minick went the first 3 ⅓ innings with five earned runs allowed, six strikeouts, seven walks and six hits.
Kingwood Park heads to the three-day NFCA Leadoff Classic in Bryan/College Station starting Thursday.
Kingwood Park gathers in the circle for a conference during a game Feb. 10, 2025 at Huffman-Hargrave. (Chris Zorzi/SportCast Media)
