One Hit The Difference In Parkway North District Semifinal Vs. Central

One hit. That's all it took for Parkway North to get what the Vikings needed to advance past Parkway Central in a district semifinal played at North Monday afternoon.

With a man on in the first inning, Colt starter Brian Hillhouse struck out Parkway North's Jon Shanker, but Central could not complete the putout at first base when the ball escaped the cather. 

North's Garrett Taylor followed that up with a RBI double, the only Viking hit of the game, scoring two runs. An errant throw on a double play conversion plated a third run to back Sophomore starter Joey Reeves.

He'd need every one of those runs as Hillhouse shut down the Vikings for the remainder of the game. Reeves worked out of jams throughout the game, except for a Zack Lazenby home run crushed to dead center field in the fourth inning and a Lazenby squibber to the mound that left Reeves indecisive as Hillhouse scored in the sixth. Giuseppe Accardi gunned down what would have been the game-tying run in Jack Schneier to end the inning.

Junior Joey Hope came in with blazing stuff for the save in the seventh, including a Lazenby fly out to left to end the game.

"We hate playing Parkway Central," Fred Friedman said afterward. 

"They scap, they hit the ball better than us today, we were just fortunate to come up with a big hit in the first inning. Joey Reeves did a great job of making them stick, fighting through adversity, it doesn't matter how you win as long as you win.

Friedman credited Central's performance in part coming from the fact that the Colts had already played a district game Saturday with the extra inning win against Pattonville. Monday's win got North's jitters out of the way, he said. Hope will be back on the mound to start Wednesday.

The Vikings will host CBC Wednesday afternoon.