LONE TREE

It was shaping up to be an exciting finish between conference rivals as the visiting Huskies took the upper hand in a rematch against the Lady Lions by breaking a 3-3 tie with two runs in the top of the seventh.

With their backs against the wall, the Lady Lions responded by loading the bases in the bottom of the seventh and eighth grader Adi Parizek met the moment by bringing them all home for the win.

Fueled by a thrilling walk-off grand slam from Parizek, Lone Tree (13-6) rallied down 3-0 to secure a season sweep over Highland (7-7) with a 7-5 victory on June 24.

“It was just so fun,” Parizek said of her game winning grand slam against Highland. “We won against [Highland] twice this year and the second win feels just as good. And then the energy that everybody brought after the game, amazing.”

Parizek picked a perfect time for her first home run of the season as the designated hitter ended the game with two hits and a team high four RBIs.

“She stayed calm and collected and that’s big when you’re up batting like that. And she plays softball all the time, I knew she would relax in there a little bit,” Lone Tree coach Jovonte Squiers said about Parizek’s at-bat in the seventh inning.

“We talked about it earlier, what might potentially be coming at her, and she made an adjustment in the box and knew exactly what was coming, was able to just drive it and I just knew it’s gone off the bat with a line drive like that.”

The Huskies took an early advantage with a single run in the first inning and then added two more runs to their lead in the top of the third. Trailing by three, Lone Tree scored its first run in the bottom of the third and then brought the game to a tie with two runs in the fourth.

Still deadlocked entering the seventh, Highland found home twice in the top of the inning to take back the lead and leave Lone Tree with the pressure of matching or surpassing them.

“I think we stayed really relaxed, even when we’re down 3-0 and even in the seventh, when [Highland] scored two, you didn’t really see much frustration from us,” coach Squiers said. “In that situation, you only really need two runs so you can go extras with it. We talked about it in the dugout to stay relaxed and let’s get some bats rolling.”

Not settling for the tie, Lone Tree more than doubled its score with four runs in the seventh, which were brought in by Parizek’s game winning grand slam.

Alex Dautremont was the winning pitcher for Lone Tree as the senior went the distance, securing six strikeouts, giving up nine hits, and allowing three walks. Dautremont also went three-for-three when up to bat with two runs brought in.

An impressive outing in more ways than one as this victory for the Lady Lions extends their winning streak to seven straight, gives them the most wins (13) for the program since 2016, and completed a season sweep against the Huskies for the first time in series history. 

Lone Tree 5, Columbus 0

Continuing to stack wins on top of wins, the surging Lady Lions (14-6) went on the road to collect a conference victory over Columbus (11-10) last Thursday.

Lone Tree scored three runs in the second to take a lead they never relinquished. They added two insurance runs in the sixth and all while keeping the Wildcats from reaching home all game long. This was the second time this season the Lady Lion defense has held their opponents to zero runs.

In this impressive defense effort, Abby Zaruba took the win on the mound as the sophomore went the distance by recording eight strikeouts, giving up five hits, and allowing two walks.

Senior Rylee Shield brought in a team high two runs on two hits which were both doubles. Abby Zaruba also finished the night with a team best two hits.

Lone Tree 11, Hillcrest 1

Needing just four innings to claim victory, the Lady Lions (15-6) completed the season sweep over the Ravens (10-13) in a home conference contest last Friday.

In its final conference game of the season, Lone Tree takes this win to raise its conference to 8-4 to secure second place in the Southeast Iowa Super Conference North. Taking the conference crown is Louisa-Muscatine as they boast an undefeated conference record of 12-0.    

Hillcrest took an early lead in the first when eighth grader Ella Mize brought Denaley Shaw home with a base hit. This ended up being Hillcrest’s lone run of the game as the Lone Tree defense shut them out for the rest of the contest.

In the bottom of the first the Lady Lions brought in five runs to shift the balance of power to their direction. Lone Tree added to their lead with a single run in the second, three runs in the third, and scored twice in the fourth to go up by 10 to invoke the mercy rule.

Senior power was on full display when it came to pitching for Lone Tree as Alex Dautremont earned the win on the mound. Dautremont ended the night with four strikeouts, giving up three hits, and allowing one walk.

  Senior power also shined on offense as Kayleigh Rundlett collected a team high three hits, two singles and one double, while also bringing in a team high three runs. 

After receiving a first round bye, up next for Lone Tree (15-6) is hosting a second round playoff matchup against either Don Bosco (15-11) or Central Elkader (0-18) on July 9.