For these Huskies, just a start

Highland’s softball team won 34 games the last two years.

The Huskies made the state tournament in 2025.

They won a conference title this year.

And except for a dramatic 4-2 loss Monday night at Clarksville, the defending state champion in Class 1A, they’d have been heading to Fort Dodge again.

This is something to celebrate, really.

It shows how impressive the 2007 season was in Highland. Thirty-five wins. Three losses. State title. As good as these last two years were, they’re still a win short of that ’07 team, coached by current head coach Carrie Wieland, by the way.

The Huskies are loaded.

Last year, 17 wins and a state tournament, they had one senior in the starting lineup.

This year, 17 wins and a regional finalist, they had one senior in the starting lineup.

The rest? One junior, three sophomores, five freshmen.

They’re loaded.

This is a team where the head coach, Wieland, jumps around the third-base coaching box and team bench with the excitement of a teen-ager and assistant coach Samantha Cox, her niece, runs across the field and hits pregame balls while just weeks away from delivering a baby.

For these Huskies, and that one, just the beginning.

Fab Finish

Mid-Prairie senior Sophie Miller finished up an impressive high school career by hitting .479 in softball this season and starting all 26 games.

She began her five-season varsity career in softball by making the team as a starting catcher in her eighth-grade season. In five summers, she played in 142 games and missed just two starts, both in her eighth-grade debut season. She never hit below .313 and was above .400 in her last two years.

Miller, an outfielder this year except for Senior Night when she requested a start at catcher, scored 140 runs over five seasons.

Her senior year also included medaling at the state wrestling championships, and reaching the state track meet in hurdles and the shuttle hurdle relay.

Growing Up Fast

Mid-Prairie head baseball coach Kyle Mullet said he heard encouraging comments from opposing coaches all summer about his youthful Golden Hawks team that featured zero seniors and three juniors in the starting lineup. It truly was a youth attack.

“Every single one of them made a comment to me about, look at what we have and in a couple of years, look out.’

“These guys are going to be talented,” Mullet said. “They’re going to have the experience in a year or two. Mid-Prairie baseball, big things are coming.”

Mid-Prairie rising freshman Koy Grout was the top-hitting eighth-grader in the River Valley South, with a .278 batting average, and Bronx Miller was the second-leading freshman, at .267. Miller was the top freshman baserunner with 31 stolen bases.

Evans to Indian Hills

Jovi Evans, an All-Stater at Mid-Prairie, has committed to playing volleyball at Indian Hills Community College in Ottumwa.

At Indian Hills, Evans will play on a roster that is clearly global. Last season’s Indian Hills team included players from Brazil, France, Japan, Portugal, Poland and Egypt. And now Kalona.

Evans is the fifth-fastest graduating senior sprinter in track in Iowa, and may also run at Indian Hills.

Farewell Season

Emmett Burke of Lone Tree, who finished his high school career at Regina Catholic this year, hit .309 for the Regals baseball team this year. He was a starter in 29 of 30 games and scored 25 runs. The Regals won 26 games and were ranked third in Class 2A, but lost a district title game to Mediapolis.

Burke also played a key defensive role for Regina’s boys basketball team, which won the River Valley South title and was a 2A state semifinalist.

Burke has committed to attending Clarke University in Dubuque. He’ll play in basketball.

News columnist Paul Bowker can be reached at bowkerpaul1@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @bowkerpaul