With a couple of table setters atop the batting order like Sarah Burton and Payton Brun, Highland softball is finding success in staying aggressive.

 

Through four games this season, the freshmen pair have combined for 11 hits, reached base 16 times, stolen six bases and scored 13 runs.

 

It is a dynamic combination both at the plate and on the basepaths that has started to produce runs in bunches.

 

"We have talked about it a lot," Highland Coach Carrie Wieland said after the Huskies routed Lone Tree, 17-0 in three innings, in a Southeast Iowa Super Conference game Thursday night at Highland High School. "We made some mistakes against (Hillcrest Academy), and I just said, 'We can't do that. We're always advancing. If we get out, we get out.' So, we are going to keep that up all the time and we have to use our speed because that is what makes people nervous."

 

Burton and Brun reached base in all three plate appearances against Lone Tree. Burton recorded two doubles, drove in two runs and stole a base, while Brun accounted for two singles, a double and two runs batted in.

 

Both players scored three times.

 

"We always want to start on top and be the more aggressive team," Burton said. "To make an opposing team have to work. They make the mistakes, so we can score."

 

Highland (3-1) sent 16 batters to the plate in a 12-run first inning, the scored five more times in the second frame. The Huskies have outscored their opponents in their last three contests by a whopping margin of 44-1.

 

"When we are all working, when we are all being aggressive, even in the dugout we are all excited, it helps us get going and score runs," Brun said.

 

Brun has benefited from a move up in the lineup. After batting cleanup in the season-opening loss to West Burlington, Brun was moved up to the second spot and is 6-for-8 with seven runs scored and eight RBIs since the switch.

 

"With Payton, we know she can hit," Wieland said. "We were having her at three or four and she just stressed out about it and she is also a really good bunter and she is also pretty fast. We just decided that we were going to switch it up a little bit, see if we can get her to move Sarah, or fake-move Sarah and then hit the line. We really know what she can do. I have got four or five good hitters, so it is hard to decide where to put them for sure. But we want to keep her up there. I think she has done a great job."

 

With Burton and Brun as regular inhabitants of the basepaths, there have been plenty of opportunities for other Huskies to drive in runs and they have produced. Sophomore Abbi Stransky has driven in five runs with a team-high seven base hits, while junior Mackinze Hora has five hits and seven RBIs.

 

"We don't have a weak spot in the lineup," Burton said. "Everyone is solid. They can hit the ball. We have seen that."

 

Junior pitcher Grace Batcheller (2-1) allowed just one hit and struck out three batters in three scoreless innings. She has not allowed a run in either of her last two starts.

 

"Great job," Wieland said. "We knew she would come out on fire and we knew that this was an important win for her. ... Super-proud of her."

 

Highland hosts Mediapolis on Tuesday, while Lone Tree (1-1) hosted Hillcrest Academy on Friday.