Baseball/Softball Recap: Pitching, timely hitting lead St. Pius X baseball to big week

By Landan Kuhlmann landan@theleadernews.com

As St. Pius X’s baseball team continues to find its groove, it took every aspect of the game to keep its recent winning streak going last week.

SPX won both games last week, taking down Kinkaid 2-1 on April 10 before emerging victorious over the John Cooper School by a score of 6-1. The Panthers (15-9-1, 3-3 district) have now won five consecutive games, and were up to 16th in the private school rankings released by Texas High School Baseball on April 10.

Front and center on the mound for the Panthers last week was their prowess on the mound through both contests. Tyler Comeaux started things off with six shutout innings in the win over Kinkaid, allowing just two hits and three walks while striking out seven hitters. Three days later, LSU commit Casan Evans hurled a nohitter against John Cooper, striking out a seasonhigh 17 Dragons in the win to keep the Panthers’ streak alive.

But it also took some timely hitting and base running to keep the streak alive as well. Ethan McMinn had two hits against John Cooper, while Cooper Brown had three hits of his own and Easton Dean homered to help the Panthers come out on top. SPX also scored the game-winning run on a wild pitch to beat Kinkaid.

The Panthers are set to battle San Antonio Central Catholic on Thursday, looking to run their winning streak to six games.

Elsewhere in the private school ranks, St. Thomas dropped its only game of the week, a 5-1 defeat to 2nd-ranked Concordia Lutheran. The loss dropped the Eagles to 16-8-1 overall and 3-1 in TAPPS district competition.

On the public school side, the Heights Bulldogs bounced back from an April 4 loss to Westside with a pair of wins last week. The Bulldogs took down Westbury 10-1 on April 11 before exacting a measure of revenge on Westside with a 6-4 victory on April 3 and taking down Westbury again 6-2 on April 14. R.J. Robinson had three hits including a homer to lead the offensive attack for Heights (18-7, 7-1) on April 11 against Westbury on April 11, while Brady Pro had eight strikeouts in the April 14 victory.

Waltrip had three wins in four games last week, a 26-0 win over Madison on April 12 before an 8-2 win over Carnegie Vanguard on April 13. The Rams then lost 4-2 to Lutheran South on April 14 before taking down Madison again by a score of 16-1 on April 15 to move to 20-2 overall and 12-1 in district play.

The Booker T. Washington Eagles won a pair of games via forfeit against Worthing last week, moving their record to 10-1 on the season.

Scarborough ran its winning streak to three games with a 9-1 win over North Forest on April 11 before winning via forfeit on April 14 to improve to 7-3 on the season.

Softball SPX’s Lady Panthers had a pair of wins last week, beating Concordia

Lutheran 14-4 on April 11 before defeating Incarnate Word Academy 22-3 on April 14 to improve to 22-10 overall and 6-0 in TAPPS district play. Maddie Trejo had nine combined RBIs in the two games, while Julie Tresco went 5 for 5 with a home run and six RBIs in the win over Incarnate Word Academy.

In public school action, Waltrip’s Lady Rams won two of their three games last week, with a pair of 15-0 wins over Sterling on April 12 and Madison on April 13 before dropping a 7-3 decision to Galena Park on April 14. Anaya Ortega had three RBIs for Waltrip (15-4, 12-2) in the win over Madison, while Cinthia Castillo had three hits including a double and two RBIs.

The Heights Lady Bulldogs have now clinched the District 18-6A crown and put an exclamation point on their district dominance with wins over Westside (8-1) on April 11 and Westbury (16-0) on April 14 to secure their second district title in the past three seasons. Laila Robins, Kennedy Hill, and Alyssa Morris had three apiece for Heights (23-21, 10-0) in the win over Westbury, while Flora Moreno hit a grand slam and Angelina del Pozo also homered. Hill and Helen Maddux drove in two runs apiece against Westside to back Hayley Jaime’s complete-game effort that included nine strikeouts.

Booker T. Washington lost both games last week, a 17-2 decision to Worthing on April 14 before dropping a 19-4 game to Furr on April 15 to drop to 7-5 on the season.

By Pastor Will Cover Arise Baptist Church 803 Curtin St. Houston TX 77018 713-659-9697 • www.arisebaptistchurch.org

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“I would work with my dad in high school and in college, and he would always outwork me. He outworked me really until he got diagnosed,” Seth said. “… That was my dad’s whole thing in life. He grew up with nothing, so he wanted to provide for his family, and that’s what he did.”

But as much he loved work, Seth said his father loved people even more. He was always quick to help anyone, whether they were part of the family or not. He simply wanted to give back and pour into the community he held dear.

And even though they might have known him from his business, his son said Peter Santikos was more than just a businessman. According to an obituary from Dignity Memorial, Peter served in multiple board positions on the Oak Forest Lions Club as well as on several committees for the Houston Livestock Show & pandemic in 2020, and HISD continued to do so even after the state removed the provision for districts last year. According to a PowerPoint presentation from the March 23 budget meeting, taking it away would have saved the district roughly $29 million in the upcoming fiscal year. Also among the cuts would have been a reduction in small school subsidies and the high school allotment per student, according to House. Per the March 23 meeting, reducing those allot-