It was a festive postgame scene Friday night as Kingwood Park opened District 18-5A with a 15-0 win in three innings over Pasadena.
A celebratory photo of the night’s two home run hitters was taken. Some major props were made to the pitcher who hit her first career varsity homer all while not allowing a hit to the Eagles in the circle.
Kingwood Park (7-2, 1-0), coached by Lindsay Gregory in her second season, felt the sting of a doubleheader non-district loss to Port Neches-Groves on Feb. 28.
After an uplifting week of practice – the Panthers went ‘back to basics’ – Kingwood Park saw 10 players in its lineup get a hit against Pasadena. In the field, the lone Eagle baserunners came on walks and the Panthers didn’t commit an error.
Allie Minick did a solid job in the circle and the sophomore felt like her six strikeouts and no hits or runs allowed was one of her best outings of the young season. She also hit a laser out of the park for her first career roundtripper, an especially exciting moment since it came in the first home game of the season.
She joined senior teammate Abbey Papadimitriou for a post game photo for the team’s social media accounts. Papadimitriou hit a towering homer an inning later, her third of the season.
Minick finished with four RBIs while Papadimitriou had three. Pinch-hitter Lexie Barbontin ended the game with three RBIs on a triple.
But it’s time to get serious once again as Kingwood Park has an important district game Tuesday night at Crosby.
Kingwood Park is set to play the Cougars on the road. Crosby’s stadium is one of the best places to watch a game in the Houston area and it tends to be an advantage for the home team.
Crosby, where Gregory previously served as an assistant under head coach Troy Fox, is 8-4 on the year and picked up two district wins last week.
The Cougars edged out Porter 2-1 in extra innings last Tuesday as ace pitcher Tori Dahnke, an Idaho State commit, struck out 11 with one earned run allowed. Ella Mangus homered for the Cougars while Mackenzie Ross provided the game winning RBI single in the bottom of the eighth.
Crosby followed that up by upending Splendora 17-1 Friday in five innings. Alyssa Gonzalez, Brooke Henderson and Kaitlyn Blackmon all homered while Dahnke struck out seven in four innings. Crosby allowed just two hits as a team.
Kingwood Park is 9-10 all-time against Crosby. The teams met last February with the Cougars prevailing 4-2. The Panthers won a 2023 meeting 4-3.
The Panthers return home Friday to play West Fork (9-10, 0-2). The Gators opened the season 5-1 before losing five of their next six. When district play started last week, West Fork lost 6-1 to Dayton and then 14-0 to Porter two nights later in five innings. The Gators totaled just five hits in the losses. While making three errors against Porter, just four of the 14 runs allowed were earned.
Members of the Kingwood Park softball team are seen March 7, 2025 before a game against Pasadena. (Jose Palomo/SportCast Media)
