Recipe for success: Cougars’ explosive offense, Lay’s pitching and hearty breakfast casserole add up to state final four berth

LEWISTOWN, Mo. — If he were in the other dugout, Paul Scifres would not welcome the thought of facing the Highland softball team right now.

He would welcome some of his wife Kendra’s breakfast casserole before a state championship game, though.

In his 18th season as the Highland coach, Paul Scifres has guided the Cougars to 10 straight wins and the program’s fourth trip to the final four.

“I like our chances,” Scifres said. “I would not want to play us.”

The Cougars have outscored their opponents 141-4 during the win streak. Junior pitcher Abby Lay has shut out the last five opponents, and the Highland offense has put 80 runs on the board in those five games.

“As we do some self-scouting and look at the players we have up and down this lineup and what Abby’s been able to do in the circle, the leadership we get from Haleigh Winter, I would not want to play us,” Scifres said. “We’re a hot team.”

The Cougars got some extra fuel before the Oct. 19 district championship game against Monroe City and the state quarterfinal tilt with South Harrison.

“Coach Scifres’ wife keeps cooking us breakfast on Saturdays,” Lay said.

The feast is highlighted by her famous breakfast casserole.

“That breakfast casserole, dang right,” Paul Scifres said.

The ingredients of this household and team favorite aren’t a secret, but that doesn’t make it any less delectable.

“I don’t think there’s anything secret. Just a lot of meat, a lot of cheese, a lot of eggs, all my favorites,” Paul Scifres said. “I love breakfast. I could eat it every meal.”

If things go well, they will need to find a place for her to cook come Saturday morning.

Highland (25-6) will face Linn (23-4) at noon Friday in the Class 2 state semifinals at the Killian Softball Complex in Springfield, Mo. The winner advances to the state championship game at 12:15 p.m. Saturday against either Chaffee (25-6) or Mid-Buchanan (32-4), while the loser plays in the third-place game at 5:15 p.m. Friday.

As the Cougars prepare for their trip to Springfield, Paul Scifres has sought and received advice from other coaches who have coached in the final four. Highland last reached this juncture when they went undefeated and won the title in 2005, two years before Scifres took the reins from Dianne TenEyck.

“The main thing I keep hearing is just to make sure we enjoy it, really pay attention and absorb everything, take all that in, and just enjoy ourselves,” Scifres said. “We did what we needed to do to get there. It’s going to fly by pretty fast, and it’ll be a lifelong memory. The main goal is just to enjoy it.”

Thus, in the practices leading up to Friday’s semifinal game, Scifres has ensured the Cougars are in a position to truly enjoy the trip.

“We’re kind of looking at this week of practice as a chance to get our work in and do the things we need to prepare so that on Friday we can just go out, have fun and play,” Scifres said. “Do the hard work now so that when we get there we can show up, play the game and have some fun.”

While soaking up the moment is a sound strategy for getting the most out of the experience, Lay said not getting caught up in it will prove important, as well.

“It’s kind of nerve wracking,” Lay said of the opportunity to play at the home of the Missouri State University softball team. “There are going to be so many people there, and the nerves are going to be pretty high, but if we just play our game we should be fine.”

Winter said the Cougars’ attention has to be solely on what happens within the field’s confines.

“I think the atmosphere is going to be really big. We just have to stay focused and keep our head between the lines,” Winter said.

That focus hasn’t been a problem for Winter or Lay. Winter holds the program record for home runs in a career and matched the single-season record with her ninth blast in the district semifinals on Oct. 17 against Clark County.

Winter has found a home in the fifth spot in the Cougars’ lineup behind Keera Rothweiler, Addy Abell, Bailee Crist and Lay. Winter began the season in the No. 3 spot, but some early-season struggles prompted Scifres to move Winter down to fifth. Scifres shuffled Winter to that spot for the Sept. 12 game against Milan — the Cougars’ 12th game of the season — and Winter has stayed there for the 19 games since.

In that stretch, Winter’s batting average has skyrocketed from .212 to its current .376. Winter has clubbed eight home runs, driven in 30 runs, and 15 of her 26 hits have gone for extra bases in those 19 games.

“I do like the stability in the lineup because I feel like once you change the lineup, people start thinking, ‘Well, what did I do to get moved down? What did I do to get moved up?’” Winter said of not moving out of the fifth spot. “I just like that (Scifres) has kept a stable lineup.”

In addition to batting .462 with four home runs, 41 RBIs and a .731 slugging percentage in the cleanup spot, Lay has been virtually untouchable in the pitcher’s circle as of late. She is riding a 26 ⅔-inning scoreless streak into Friday and last gave up a run Oct. 8.

“It’s kind of weird,” Lay said of that shutout streak. “But it’s exciting also.”

The 1-2-3 combination of Rothweiler, Abell and Crist has combined for a .525 batting average — Rothweiler at .525, Abell at .494 and Crist at .552. Rothweiler has stolen 50 bases without getting caught, Abell has swiped 19 bags and struck out just twice in 100 at-bats, and Crist leads the club with a .990 slugging percentage, 47 RBIs and 20 doubles.

Those bat-to-ball skills and speed extend throughout the entire lineup. Every Cougars starter has at least a .300 batting average and .400 on-base percentage. The Cougars have stolen 135 bases — 4.4 per game — on 140 attempts.

“We put the ball in play, and we’re aggressive on the basepaths,” Paul Scifres said. “We have a lot of confidence. There’s nobody out there that we’d be afraid to play.”

Even though Scifres hasn’t coached in a final four, he knows confidence is crucial, but it doesn’t guarantee anything.

“This is that moment where, and we say it all the time, it doesn’t matter who we’re playing. We just have to go out and execute,” Scifres said. “They have to throw it over the plate just like we do. They have to field ground balls just like we do. They have to touch the bases in order just like we do.

“That’s our mentality right now. Why not us? At the end, you have to be fortunate in some areas, you have to have the ball bounce your way, but as long as we play hard, execute and have fun doing it, I’ll take our chances.”