The Lady Lions and the Huskies came into this Southeast Iowa Super Conference contest off a win and both teams were vying for back-to-back victories. Scoring double digits to end the game early, Highland (7-4) came out of this SEISC battle victorious, 11-0, over Lone Tree (4-6) on June 8.

This loss ends the two-game win streak Lone Tree was on and its conference record drops to 2-3. For Highland this victory makes them the winners of four in-a-row and its conference record improves to 4-2.

After scoring three times in the first and twice in the second Highland held onto a 5-0 lead entering the fourth. Highland sophomore Lilly Barre would get onto base after hitting a single and then junior Payton Brun would step up to the plate. 

Brun would proceed to crush the ball, sending it past the fence for a home run, sending Barre in for the score in the process. The team would celebrate at home plate when Brun crossed it, but the fun times for Highland would not stop there. 

The very next batter, senior Abbi Stransky, followed up with a home run of her own. As she rounded the bases the Huskies would once again celebrate at home plate and the score would reach 8-0 in Highland’s favor.   

Lone Tree continued to stay scoreless after the bottom of the fourth inning ended with sophomore Haley Bockelman striking out, sophomore Alex Dautremont being forced out at first, and junior Hogan Eden’s pop-fly being caught. 

In the fifth Highland would score three additional times to pump up its lead to 11-0. Brun’s double would be responsible for sending home Burton and junior Grace Prybil for two of Highland’s scores in the inning. The third Highland score came from Barre stealing home after an errant pitch from Lone Tree. 

Needing to score any points for the game to continue the Lady Lions began the bottom of the fifth with a triple, courtesy of sophomore Rylee Shield’s bat. Despite Shield being in prime scoring position the next three Lone Tree batters would give Highland the outs they needed to end the inning and the game. 

This was Highland’s second time in three games where they gave up no runs and this was the second time this season when Lone Tree was unable to put up any points. 

Lone Tree 22, WMU 8

Before the Lady Lions battled Highland, they went on the road to face off against the Winfield-Mt Union Wolves on June 6. Not only would Lone Tree emerge victorious in this matchup against two teams in the Southeast Iowa Super Conference, but they would also end the game with 22 points, their season high. 

The Wolves would score twice in the first and score once in the third. Lone Tree would also score twice in the first and once in the fourth, making the score tied at 3-3 after four innings played. 

Exploding in the fifth on offense, Lone Tree would score eight runs to take a commanding lead that they would not relinquish for the rest of the game. 

They would then score three more times in the top of the sixth to expand their lead to 11. The Wolves would respond this time, scoring five runs in the bottom of the sixth to cut their deficit to six. 

Not daunted by the potential WMU comeback Lone Tree would score eight more runs in the seventh to firmly close the door on the game, winning 22-8. This was the first time since May 29, 2018, Lone Tree was able to score over 20 points. 

Sophomore Vivian Zaruba and junior Lila Bell both scored four runs, the team lead. Leading the team in RBIs with three each was sophomores Alex Dautremont and Rylee Shield.

Pitching for Lone Tree was eighth grader Abby Zaruba and Dautremont. Abby would end the night with eight strikeouts after 5.2 innings pitched. Dauremont pitched in 1.1 innings and struck out two WMU batters. 

Lone Tree (7-6) opened its week on the road when they faced off against Columbus (5-5) on June 13 and then they stayed home and battled Central Lee (9-6) on June 14. Going on the road again the Lady Lions will compete against Louisa-Muscatine (8-6) on June 15. The next day they will remain home to match up against Pekin (0-11) on June 16.