Sweeting smashes first career homer as Highland routs Hillcrest

The No. 8 Highland Huskies, coming off of their first loss of the year, stepped on the gas pedal and never looked back on Tuesday against Hillcrest in a 16-0 four-inning win.

The night was highlighted for the Huskies by Adley Sweeting’s first home run in a Husky uniform. The freshman catcher tripped over first base while celebrating, drawing a laugh out of the crowd as she rounded the bases.

“I tried to do a celebration, did not work, tripped on the bag, landed on my head,” Sweeting recounted with a laugh. “I ended up doing a somersault halfway through it.”

All nine players in the Highland starting lineup had hits and scored on the night. Ella Schlabaugh led the team with 4 RBIs in the contest.

Hillcrest’s offense struggled to keep up with Highland ace Jillian Stransky, as leadoff hitter Brynna Boshart provided the Ravens’ only hit of the night. Sweeting described working with Stransky, who has pitched her way to a dominant 1.34 ERA and 0.96 WHIP to begin the year.

“She’s such a good teammate overall, she’s able to get us through tough times, even though it might be hard for her and the rest of us.”

Hillcrest 14, Columbus 1

After a slow start to the season, the Hillcrest Academy bats roared to life on Thursday, as the Ravens won a 14-1 rout over Columbus.

After having just three hits and zero runs over the prior two games combined, Hillcrest mustered eight hits, led by three off the bat of eighth grader Isabelle Vigneron, who also scored two runs and had a game-high three RBIs.

Hillcrest pitcher Lyla Genkinger was dominant in the game, allowing no earned runs while throwing the first no-hitter of her career.

The Ravens closed the workweek with a 9-0 loss to Mediapolis.

Hillcrest splits HLV-TC tournament

The Ravens went 1-1 in Saturday’s HLV-TC tournament, falling 2-1 to Baxter before coming back to knock off the hosting Warriors 7-2.

In their first game against the Bolts, the Ravens struggled to find timely batting, as none of the Ravens’ six hits resulted in RBIs. That trend turned around against HLV, as Hillcrest collected six RBIs from six different players, culminating in a game-sealing four-run sixth.

The Ravens improved to 3-6 on the year with the victory.