Miener tosses shutout, blasts 2-run homer as Highland stays red hot with MVC win
Highland’s softball team has a cohesiveness this spring that has made them the team to beat in the Mississippi Valley Conference thus far.
That cohesiveness was most recently on full display against Mascoutah.
Backed by a pair of RBI-hits from seniors Sam Miener and Sidney Parkerson, Miener’s strong pitching, and solid defense, the Bulldogs put down a scrappy Mascoutah squad for a 4-0 MVC conference victory Monday, May 10, at Highland High School.
Highland moved to 10-0 (5-0 in MVC play) and are rounding into a team poised for a strong second half of the season with big postseason aspirations.
“You want to start strong and a lot of times they set those playoff games way before the season even ends, so you want to set some sort of precedent (of success),” Highland coach Glen Nicholls said.
HHS broke on top in the bottom of the first as Emma Strubinger reached on an infield error leading off. Strubinger came home from second on a soft, floater hit by Miener that dropped between three Mascoutah fielders just beyond the pitching circle, giving Highland a 1-0 lead. Strubinger had a good day at the plate going 2-for-3 with two runs scored.
“By the time they realized she was going, she was three quarters of the way home and the first baseman threw it and she threw late,” Nicholls said. “It was really just her speed that scored that run.”
In the bottom of fourth, the Bulldogs got the bats going again. Maggie Grohmann ripped a long single to start the frame and then, Miener, who went 2-for-3 with 3 RBIs, provided the big blow, blasting a two-run homer over the center field fence.
That gave Highland a three-run cushion.
“I was waiting for a strike because my last at bat I was kind of swinging all over the place,” Miener said. “It felt really good coming off the bat and I felt we kind of needed that energy to push through the game because we got ahead early and only got one run early. Then, we kind of went down for a little bit and it kind of helped us get our energy up for the rest of the game.”
Highland added an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth to make it 4-0.
Parkerson also swung the bat well for HHS, going 2-for-3 with a double. It was a nice boost for Parkerson, who had been struggling offensively recently.
“My timing was a little bit off the past couple of games and I’ve been trying to fix that,” Parkerson said. “I was waiting a lot longer on it and I just exploded (on the ball) and my bat speed I needed to speed it up against all of these slower pitchers. I was really focused on my timing in this game. I got one base hit and it gave me more confidence.”
Overall, Miener delivered another one of her masterpieces in the circle. Arguably the best pitcher in the conference, Miener limited the Indians to just three hits, struck out 14 and walked none in picking up her 10th win, 10th shutout and eighth complete game of the season to pair with a 0.00 ERA.
“They (Mascoutah) only got like two hits and when they got a runner at second or third base, she’s got that mentality ‘you’re not gonna score (on me),’” Nicholls said. “She threw a couple pitches (late) that had some serious giddy-up on them, and we’ve just been talking about going after the batters and trying to limit the pitches.”
Mascoutah dropped to 5-9 overall and 1-4 in the MVC.
Highland will finish out the week with a road game Tuesday, May 11, at Gillespie and then return home at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 12, for a conference game against Jerseyville.