Highland softball routs Van Buren

RIVERSIDE — Highland and Van Buren County squared off in an Southeast Iowa Super Conference North and South battle Wednesday night.

The North division prevailed this go around as Highland defeated Van Buren County 11-0 in five innings.

It was all Highland in the contest. Van Buren had its chances, but between the Huskie’s Grace Batcheller’s pitching and their efficiency inside the box, it was a tough one.

“Mentally, we’ve been working on a bunch of different things,” Highland head coach Carrie Wieland said. “Grace stayed focused and when she hits spots it all works out. She held her mental game wonderfully.”

From the circle, Batcheller allowed just four hits in five innings, two walks and three strikeouts. The infield was stellar as well, hardly ever letting the ball get outside the infield.

Van Buren’s lone chance to score came in the first inning.

Annabelle Cormier and Callie Kracht tallied two of the Warriors hits in the first two at-bats with singles. Following a ground out, Cormier and Kracht were stationed at second and third.

The Warriors scoring opportunity was quickly thwarted as Cormier was tagged out at home following a wild pitch and pop up to end the inning.

From then on out, the Huskies defense tightened up and nearly every Warrior ball found the glove of a Highland infielder.

“The infield was doing great,” Batcheller said. “The outfield too, but the infield was really downing hard ground balls. We had great plays made all the way around.”

Highland rolled at the plate.

Lead off hitter Sarah Burton got the Huskies started on the right note in their half of the first, hitting a solo home run in her first at-bat. Jessica Kraus brought a second run home with a sac fly to left field, bringing Payton Brun across the plate to give the Huskies a 2-0 lead.

The Trojans final two hits came in the second with Cala Smith and Kylee Roen each getting a single, but they wouldn’t make it home.

Highland scored three more in the second to make it 5-0 with Lilly Barre making it to second on an error, which scored a run. Katelyn Waters delivered an RBI single and Payton Brun hit an RBI triple.

Following three quick Warrior ground outs, the Huskies make it 6-0 in the bottom of the third with five total hits.

The Warriors went three up three down in the top of the fourth as the Huskies put together their best scoring inning of the night.

Highland brought five runs home in the bottom of the fourth, making it 11-0, putting pressure on Van Buren in the fifth.

In the top of the fifth, the Warriors got two runners on base, but Highland was able to get out of the inning to pull out the victory.

Batcheller said the team has been hanging out a lot more, which has led to a positive result all around.

“I think really practicing hard every day and working together has really shown,” Batcheller said. “It’s made us closer.”

The Huskies finished with a total of 15 hits in the win.

“I’m really proud of them,” Wieland said. “Our offense needed to do what they could do and that was proved. We’ve been waiting to string it all the way down the line. I’m very impressed with what we did offensively.”

Burton, Brun, Kraus, Waters, Barre, Mackinze Hora and MyLei Smith all finished with two hits.

Batcheller finished with one hit in the win.

Waters led with three RBIs. Barre finished with two. Hora, Kraus, Brun and Burton each had one RBI.

Cormier, Kracht, Smith and Roen each had hits for Van Buren.

Alli Campbell gave the Warriors four innings, giving up 15 hits, 11 runs (five earned) and one walk.

“We’re pretty young and pretty spotty,” Van Buren head coach Randy Smith said. “We played really good last night and we won that game and we didn’t have an error. Tonight we had around five. That’s what it comes down to, we gotta make the plays and score runs.”