With new coach and young roster, Highland softball checks off two of three season goals
Led by a new coach, a young Highland softball team worked through challenges and showed growth and promise for the future.
Highland scratched and clawed its way to a 13-12 mark while going 7-3 in Mississippi Valley Conference play.
Coach Chris Nikonovich was pleased with the way his club grew and progressed over the course of his first season leading the program.
“We had two of the three goals (get accomplished) in having a .500 or better season and I think we pretty well attained that by winning the last few games of the regular season and then it didn’t really matter what happened in the playoffs or postseason,” Nikonovich said. “The girls really played well for me and I thought they responded well to new coaching and they really adapted pretty well and went back to the basics and hard, fun and fast softball.”
An up-and-down 6-6 start had Highland looking to find consistency in the early part of the season.
“We were trying to figure out who was going be in what roles and it was more or less find our true identity and we knew was grit and grind,” Nikonovich said. “You have those ups and down in every season and it just happened to be at that time of the season.”
The Bulldogs finished one win short of getting share of the MVC championship, which was NIkinovich’s third goal for the team. Despite falling short, he was very pleased with how the club competed in conference play.
“We were kind of one win away from being in competition for the top spot in the conference,” he said. “That was my third goal for the season and we didn’t get that goal, but all in all at the end of the day, I was pretty excited to see how the girls really played.”
In the final week of the regular season, Highland reeled off three straight wins from May 11 to May 15 over Centralia (1-0), MVC foes Civic Memorial (3-0), and Jerseyville (10-0).
Sophomore Lucy Becker (.379), and seniors Abby Schultz (.353) and Alex Schultz (.353) were key contributors to the late-season surge. Junior Hailey Ritz also caused problems for opposing defenses on the base paths with 16 stolen bases.
Highland entered the Class 3A Highland Regional hoping to win at home and move into the sectional round of the IHSA playoffs. Seventh-seeded Highland had its season halted by No. 3 Effingham, 13-6, in the regional semifinals on May 21. Effingham went to beat Salem 9-1 on May 23 to win the regional championship.
“When you go into the postseason, you never know who’s going to be the better or the hotter bat and unfortunately we just didn’t have it and it just wasn’t our day,” Nikonovich said. “They put up good numbers against us and hit the ball really well and we just waited a little too late to get our offensive run going. We didn’t give and that’s the true fashion of Highland (softball). You just don’t give up and you show that grit and grind.”
Nikonovich praised the contributions of seniors Abbie and Alex Schultz, Maddison Hunter, Bailey Mettler, Anna Fey, and Elaina Tompkins for helping the club stay on track this spring.
“That’s true leadership that’s been here and these girls have seen these girls play for years and look up to them,” said Nikonovich.
Nikonovich believes next year will be even better for Highland with several talented underclassmen coming back for the 2025 season.
Top returners such as sophomore Utility Jordan Bircher, sophomore Taylor Newingham, Ritz, Becker, Addison Bradford, and junior pitcher Kaitlyn Wilson give HHS a chance to be stronger and more successful next season.
“We’ve gotten pretty lucky and now junior class is gonna come up as a varsity class,” he said. “They’re going to take quite a bit of the roles and our now senior class with Hailey Ritz and Kaitlyn Wilson are gonna take on a lot of leadership responsibilities.”