Durant squeezes out Highland

One bunt, and the season ended abruptly for the Highland softball team on Friday night.

A couple of days later, that bunt is still fresh in the mind of Highland head coach Carrie Wieland.

?You can?t stop having the game run through your mind,? Wieland said. ?I?m so disappointed for the girls and the senior class. And I know they feel the same too. They really wanted to make it to the state tournament this year, and they did everything they could to do that.?

The bunt brought the game-winning run across for Durant, who advanced to face Regina in Monday night?s regional finals with a 2-1 walk-off victory over the Huskies.

The scoring didn?t get going until the sixth inning, when a bloop single gave Durant a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the inning.

The Huskies made it dramatic, getting down to their last strike, before senior Courtnee Hahn sent a homerun over the fence to keep the game going in the top of the seventh.

Durant started the bottom of the seventh with a double, and moved the go-ahead run to third base on an infield single. A suicide squeeze scored the run, ending the game.

?I say it?s better to get beat by 10 runs, than it is by one, but the people that get beat by 10 runs say it isn?t very fun,? Wieland said. ?It was really difficult, because we got beat at our own game. They played well and did things right, while we weren?t successful in scoring runs. It?s pretty painful.?

The loss ended the careers of eight seniors on the Huskies roster, and Wieland said she had one message to pass along to them after it was over: Thank you.

?It was pretty heartfelt and emotional,? Wieland said. ?I thanked them for the dedication they brought to the table for Highland softball. I was asked, ?how do you sum up this senior class?? and I just said, ?Highland softball.? They lived and breathed it. They did that since eighth grade, and the dedication they gave me made me a better coach.?

With eight seniors headed for college in the fall, the mantle goes to the younger Huskies, who will rely on their stellar on-base percentage and speed.

Rising junior Kelsey Hora got on base at a clip of .548, while rising senior Cheyann Adamson finished the season with an on-base percentage of .465.

Rising freshman Ali Stokes also started in 21 of the Huskies? 29 games, and got on base at a clip of .271, something that Wieland knows she?ll only bring up next season.

?I don?t know if Ali ever really got healed from her ankle injury, but she?s someone you?ll be reading about in track, volleyball and basketball,? Wieland said. ?She?s an all-around athlete. The eighth-grade class and some of the freshman class are ready to step up.?

With a young group coming back, the biggest thing that Wieland is looking for is a group of leaders to step up and take over.

?These girls have been together so long, that losing that many (seniors) and that many different types of leaders, whether it was the strict or laid-back type of leaders, role models or the funny ones, everyone pitched in,? Wieland said. ?That?s going to be our most difficult task is finding that next leader. We have lots of great kids, so I believe we?ll be back in contention again.?

To stay in contention, the Huskies will have to make sure they take the emotion from this game and channel it in a positive way for next year.

?They have to forget it, but they also have to remember it,? Wieland said. ?It?s so painful for a little while, because we do this every day. We lose Highland softball for the summer. That?s the biggest letdown for most, is not showing up for practice every day, and not being able to see each other. For these younger kids, they need to remember this and keep working hard.?