First-inning runs give Cougars momentum as victory over Bulldogs earns final four berth

BETHANY, Mo. — The moment wasn’t too big for the Highland softball team.

Their venture to the final four won’t be, either.

The Cougars handled South Harrison 9-0 in Saturday’s Class 2 quarterfinal at Memorial Park.

“They came out determined, focused and put out a great outing and a phenomenal performance,” Cougars coach Paul Scifres said.

The raucous Bulldogs crowd didn’t phase the Cougars.

“They had a lot of noise and a lot of stuff going on, and we knew they would,” Scifres said. “The message coming in was that we don’t need to be in a screaming match with them. We don’t need to be louder than them. We need to find a way to quiet that noise and stay true to who we are. They did a great job with that, and I’m hoping that can continue.”

After Highland junior pitcher Abby Lay worked around a two-out double in the top of the first, Keera Rothweiler led off the bottom of the inning with a triple down the right field line and scored on a Bailee Crist one-out double. Haleigh Winter drove in Crist with a two-out single to give Lay and the Cougars a 2-0 lead.

“Anytime we can get up early, it relaxes us a little bit and gives us some cushion,” Scifres said. “It takes some of the stress out.”

Lay felt at ease with that two-run cushion.

“I just calm down, like if a girl gets on it doesn’t matter,” Lay said. “We still have multiple runs and they have to do the same thing.”

Lay proceeded to retire 18 of the final 19 batters she faced while striking out seven during that stretch. Lay hasn’t surrendered a run since Oct. 8 when she tossed five innings of one-run ball against South Shelby. She has gone 26 ⅔ innings without giving up a run.

“She’s been on point. She’s just locked in,” Scifres said. “When she’s locked in, it brings down the tension level because we know she’s going to put in a great effort, and we just have to clean up some things behind her when they put it in play and give her some run support. She’s doing a fantastic job.”

Back-to-back doubles by Crist and Lay in the third brought in the Cougars’ third and fourth runs. Lay scored on an Ella Callaway error two batters later. The Cougars added two more runs in the fourth when Addy Abell doubled in Rothweiler and scored when Crist hit a sharp ground ball to shortstop Bailey Barnett.

Highland scored a run each in the fifth and sixth, the final of which came on Crist’s third double of the game. Crist holds the Highland program record for doubles (20) and RBIs (47) in a season.

“She’s seeing the ball really well and has had a fantastic season, gotten big hits, clutch hits,” Scifres said of Crist. “It was nice to see her stay on the hot run that she’s on.”

Lay set down the Bulldogs in order in the tip of the seventh to send the Cougars to the final four for the first time since 2005 when Highland went 24-0 and won the Class 2 state championship.

The celebration was surprisingly subdued, at least to Scifres, following the final out on Saturday.

“I thought they would have celebrated a little bit longer considering the fact that we accomplished something we haven’t achieved at our school since 2005,” Scifres said. “We jumped around and gave some hugs for maybe like 15 seconds, then it went back to let’s get in line and shake hands, which I was proud of them for. It looks like we’ve done it before even though we haven’t.

“They were very mature about it, did a quick celebration, shook hands, told that team good game, then they came back and looked at me like, ‘Now what? Is there a trophy?’ I said, ‘Good question. I haven’t been here and it’s my 18th year coaching, but I don’t think there’s a trophy.’”

The Cougars (25-6) will travel to the Killian Softball Complex in Springfield where they will face Linn in the semifinals at noon Nov. 1.

“I feel like we’ll be a little nervous, but we’ll be fine,” Lay said. “If we play our game, no one can stop us. We just have to be in the moment, not worry about anything else, and play our game.”