Lundberg’s headfirst slide across home plate earns Highland spot in state softball title game

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — A headfirst slide, a cloud of dust and a trip to the state championship game.

With two outs in the top of the eighth in Friday’s Class 2 state softball semifinal at the Killian Softabll Complex, Highland’s Ali Lundberg scored on a passed ball to give the Cougars a 2-1 lead over Linn. Cougars pitcher Abby Lay then worked around two baserunners in the bottom of the eighth to preserve the one-run victory and send the Cougars to the state title game for the second time in school history.

Before her dash for home plate, Lundberg hesitated for a split second when Sophia Voss’ 1-2 pitch to Hannah Ritterbusch got past Wildcats catcher Kylie Peters, but Lundberg’s speed made up for her hesitation.

“It’s all the things you think about as a coach,” Highland coach Paul Scifres said. “At first when you see the ball get by and we hesitate, you’re thinking we’re not going to be able to score, then the ‘go,’ thinking you’re going to run into an out. All those things are going through your head. But Ali has a lot of speed, and she made a nice headfirst dive and with those long arms was able to get in there for a big run.”

The inning could have — and possibly should have — been over four pitches earlier. The previous batter, Haleigh Winter, hit a sky-high popup between the pitcher’s circle and home plate. Voss dropped the ball off the heel of her glove, giving the Cougars an extra out and allowing Lundberg, who entered as a courtesy runner for Lay when Lay reached on a fielder’s choice the at-bat before, to go from first to third.

“She was able to get to third without much issue, then when the ball dropped, you wipe your brow and it’s kind of a ‘whew’ moment of, ‘We got new life. We have a chance,’” Scifres said. 

Things got dicey for the Cougars in the bottom of the eighth. Voss singled leading off the inning. Lay walked Emma Starke with one out, putting the potential tying run at second and winning run at first. Lay induced a pop out from Hannah Hackmann, then Ava Warren hit a fly ball to right field that landed in Ritterbusch’s glove for the final out.

As soon as Scifres saw the ball heading in Ritterbusch’s direction, he knew the Cougars were about to go to the state championship game.

“For the last two weeks, we’ve had so much practice time. You go from the season where you’re playing almost every night and there’s not much practice to now you get to the postseason, especially this time of year, and you play Saturday and you don’t play again until Friday,” Scifres said. “All that practice time and all those extra fly balls that we’ve been hitting every day this week and seeing her gobble them up and make them look easy, that’s what she did today. Once I saw the pitch made and the ball put in the air to right, I had a lot of faith that she was going to gobble it up, and she did, and the celebration was on.”

The players and coaches had a whole congregation waiting for them once the celebration on the field wound down.

“Our whole section was waiting right around our dugout,” Scifres said. “We had a great crowd, so many people, so much support. We feel blessed.”

As crucial as Lundberg’s baserunning was to the winning run, Addy Abell’s speed played a pivotal role in the Cougars’ first run. With no score and two outs in the top of the third, Abell singled then stole second. Two pitches later, Crist singled up the middle to drive in Abell.

“It’s those little things that we always talk about, just doing the right thing on every pitch,” Scifres said. “You don’t know when you’re going to have that opportunity to take that extra base. You don’t know when you’re going to have that opportunity to make a defensive play. It’s just over and over, just preaching that we have to be ready every single pitch. We’re constantly looking for balls in the dirt. We’re constantly looking for opportunities to advance.”

The Wildcats tied the game in the bottom of the fifth when Voss grounded out to shortstop Keera Rothweiler, enabling Kenzy Hackmann to score from third.

Both teams got runners on base in the sixth but did not score. Highland went down in order in the top of the seventh, then Lay walked Peters leading off the bottom of the seventh after an eight-pitch battle. At that point, Scifres made his only visit to the circle all game.

“I remember smiling walking in there, and I looked at them all and said, ‘Man, isn’t this fun?’ Abby looked at me very seriously and said, ‘No,’ and I think she meant it,” Scifres said. “She’s one of those kids who wears her heart on her sleeve. You don’t have to guess what she’s thinking or how she’s feeling. She’s giving you all she’s got, and there was a lot of pressure. You could tell she was feeling that pressure. Hats off to her to be able to compose herself and come out and execute in those tough situations.”

The next batter, Kiana Hostetler, put down a sacrifice bunt to third baseman Manda Jennings, who fielded the ball and fired to first baseman Catherine Darnell for the out. Darnell saw the baserunner Paige Senevey round second too far, and Darnell threw to Abell at second, catching Senevey in a rundown. Abell threw to Rothweiler, who threw back to Abell, who tagged out Senevey for a momentum turning double play.

“We made some big time defensive plays, and Abby made some big pitches in pressure-filled situations,” Scifres said. 

Linn applied pressure in almost every inning. Lay’s only 1-2-3 frame came in the fourth, and the Wildcats got runners to second and third in each of the first two innings and had runners on first and second the next inning, but Lay wriggled her way out of those jams each time.

“Abby did a fantastic job pitching out of some jams throughout the game where they had runners on and she executed,” Scifres said.

The Cougars (26-6) will battle Mid-Buchanan (33-4) for the state title at 12:15 p.m. Saturday. Mid-Buchanan beat Chaffee 8-6 in a game happening simultaneously with the Highland-Linn contest. Classes 1 through 3 will play their state championship games at Killian Softball Complex on Saturday, while Classes 4 and 5 played theirs on Friday.

“I’m excited to experience it, not just because it’s my first time, but I can’t imagine how much these girls are going to be able to enjoy it, all the memories they’re making,” Scifres said. “It’s going to be super special.”

Scifres said there may not be much scouting of Mid-Buchanan before the duel for state supremacy.

“I don’t know if we’re going to find anything about them before tomorrow, or we may not even worry about it,” Scifres said. “We may just enjoy ourselves, come out, play our game, and see if it’s good enough.”