Lions edge Huskies 8-6 in regional final

By Jeff Yoder
Posted 7/16/21

Just a play or two kept the Huskie softball team from finishing the 2021 season at the state tournament. 

The lead went back and forth between Libson and Highland in Tuesday’s regional …

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Lions edge Huskies 8-6 in regional final

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Just a play or two kept the Huskie softball team from finishing the 2021 season at the state tournament. 

The lead went back and forth between Libson and Highland in Tuesday’s regional final, but the Lions scored runs with two outs in both the fifth and sixth innings to survive and advance with an 8-6 victory. 

Lisbon was in position to run away with the game early, taking a 3-0 lead with just one out in the second inning on three hits and two Highland errors. 

The Huskies responded by scoring five straight.

Sarah Burton tied the game at 3-3 with a two-out bunt single and Payton Brun followed it up with a two-run double to give Highland its first lead. 

“We have scored all year with two outs,” Highland coach Carrie Wieland said. “It's just something we've done consistently. They just never gave up. We just stayed together, we did everything we could.”

Brun finished 3-4 with three doubles and three RBIs while Burton had two hits and scored two runs. The rest of the lineup had just one hit in 20 at bats. Highland senior Kayla Cerny singled and scored in the fourth. 

“Look at Payton Brun, you can’t ask for anything better than that,  she did great,” Wieland said. "And Sarah has been doing well,  we just have kids just do their jobs and put the bunts down. We just needed one more.”

After Lisbon put the leadoff batter on in the fifth, the Huskies were just  an out away from stranding the runner when an RBI single and a  2-run homer put the Lions back on top.

Kinze Hora was hit by a pitch and scored the tying run on an error in the sixth, but the go-ahead run was left on third base. 

With its top seven hitters returning for next season, you can expect Highland to be back in a big game again next season, with more experience. 

“We're coming back, look out, we'll be back,” Wieland said. 

Despite being led by a pair of freshmen at the top of the order, Wieland said her team isn’t young in terms of varsity experience. 

“They’ve been playing since they were in eighth grade,” she said. “So we don't have anybody young anymore. We just don't even talk about it that way, because they all started as eighth graders. So we just play like we know, and just keep going forward.”

It was a two-day emotional roller coaster for the Huskies, who advanced to the regional final with a 1-0 win over Winfield Mount Union in a 14-inning game that concluded Monday. 

“It's exciting, it's frustrating, it's disappointing, it's all of the emotions.” Wieland said about being involved in two incredibly competitive contests.  “It's like being on a date with your high school boyfriend,” she joked. “You're up and then you're down. All the time, all over the place, you never know how to feel.

"But this group of girls, I've never been prouder, never been prouder of them.”