14th-ranked Highland scores walk-off softball win over 2A No. 3 Louisa-Muscatine

RIVERSIDE

Friday night’s Southeast Iowa Super Conference North softball showdown between Highland and Louisa-Muscatine, a pair of ranked teams in the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union, had come down to this:

Bottom of the seventh inning. The score was tied 5-5. One out. Highland, ranked No. 14 in Iowa 1A, had two runners on base.

Huskies head coach Carrie Wieland huddled with Katelyn Thomann, along with the two Huskie runners on base, and asked Thomann if she wanted to bunt or swing away.

“I want to drive it,” Thomann told her coach confidently.

OK, then.

Thomann, a junior who played on last year’s state tournament team, did precisely that. She drove a pitch into the outfield, Adley Sweeting raced home with the winning run and the Huskies celebrated a 6-5 walk-off win against the third-ranked team in Iowa 2A.

“It felt good,” Thomann said. “All I needed was a hit.”

The victory, Highland’s first over Louisa-Muscatine in three years and just its second win over the Falcons in 19 tries, puts the Huskies in position to clinch the SEISC North title. Highland (13-3, 11-1 SEISC North) leads Louisa Muscatine (18-5, 9-2) by a game with just two league games left to play.

“Super proud of them,” Wieland said.

The Huskies, winning their seventh straight game, rallied from one run down in the seventh inning.

Sweeting was mobbed at home plate by her teammates after scoring, then the Huskies mobbed Thomann at first base to celebrate the win.

“It felt amazing,” Thomann said. “We stuck together.”