Even though Highland saw its seven-game winning streak end with a 3-1 loss at Winfield-Mt. Union on Monday evening, the Huskies showed some of the tenacity that has propelled the team to a 7-2 start. 

The first four Huskies to reach base were stranded, but they were still locked in mentally when Jessica Kraus hit one over the fence in the seventh. Head coach Carrie Wieland said that the way her team encourages each other has been the key to its early success. 

“They stay together, and don’t let each other get down,” she said. “They fight through adversity. 

“We haven’t had a whole lot of adversity. So to see us get one back, that’s OK. I think we gave them a few there. But I think that we kept trying. Everybody believed they could.

“We’ve had great leadership, our seniors and juniors are taking control.”

Each team finished the game with six baserunners, but WMU senior Madie Anderson was able to step up with runners in scoring position to keep Highland off the scoreboard through six. 

“I think Madie knows what to throw and knows who’s going to chase what,” Wieland said. “The battery of (Madie and Anna Anderson) together is so good. 

“I give Madie lots of credit, but I’m super happy, we put the ball in play a lot more than most teams. “We just needed one error — one of them to boot it.”

Anderson gave up three hits and walked two. She struck out nine, bringing her five-season strikeout total to 927.

Grace Batcheller gave up hits in the first two at bats of the first inning, with a run scoring on a sac fly. WMU would have only one more hit in the game, a solo home run in the fourth. Batcheller walked one batter and one reached on error. 

The first-inning run put the Huskies in a tough spot against a second-team all-state pitcher who has an ERA of 0.51 over the past two seasons. 

Kinze Hora singled as Highland put a couple runners on base with two outs in the third inning, trailing just 1-0, but the Huskies couldn’t come up with the key hit. 

Sarah Burton singled and stole a base with two outs, but was stranded at second in the fifth. 

Highland drops to 6-1 in conference play with the loss. Only No. 3 Louisa-Muscatine remains unbeaten at 3-0 in the SEISC North. 

Highland 4, Wapello 0

Jessica Kraus pitched a three-hit shutout as the Huskies won their fourth game in four days on Friday. 

Kraus did not walk a batter and struck out eight in the 4-0 win over Wapello. 

“She pitched the ball well,” head coach Carrie Wieland said. “Her and Samantha (Cox), my pitching coach, outsmarted the hitters. 

“They’ve got some good hitters on that team with (Serah) Shafer, and we just outsmarted them. I think they wanted it too much. So we just played their mental game and won that one. So I was really proud of Jessica’s performance and we hit the ball well too.”

Highland scored all four runs during the first two innings and then relied on Kraus and the defense the rest of the way. 

Sarah Burton doubled and had half of Highland’s four hits. Payton Brun had a hit and an RBI, and Jenna Sands had the other hit. Abbi Stransky, Katelyn Waters and Grace Prybil scored runs.