Counting on Cash Washick isn't unusual for Highland. But to be the team's ace? ‘Kind of came out of nowhere.'

Highland senior Cash Washick’s four seasons as a varsity player include three as a starter, two as a captain and one as the No. 1 pitcher.

Washick may have been the only person who believed that last fact was possible.

"He's been a big part of what we've been doing, an important guy for us, and this year as a senior, I've put a lot on him in terms of not only performance, but all of a sudden, he's turned into our No. 1 pitcher at the moment," first-year coach Sam Michel said. "He's throwing our Monday conference games, which kind of came out of nowhere.

"At minimum, he's a guy who's hit in the middle of our lineup the last couple of years. He's going to hit somewhere two, three, four, maybe even a little bit of leadoff, which he's done in the past. He does everything for us."

Indeed, Washick, a St. Norbert recruit, has been a mainstay for the Trojans, including last season, when they won a sectional title for the first time since 2000.

But this season Washick has posted a 1.00 ERA in three outings covering 14 innings, the first of his high school career.

Washick recalled how taking the mound came to fruition.

"We were joking around one day," he said. "I go, ‘Coach, let me get an inning in the summer,' and I did good. He goes, ‘Well, all right, we'll evaluate back in the spring.' It came around, and I feel like I took on the opportunity in full, and I've just been going with it."

Michel also recounted the turn of events.

"He's been a guy who's always dealt with some nagging things injury-wise, nothing serious," Michel said. "He was always able to play through it. But he had always tried to convince us to let him throw. I was like, ‘OK, you already have some issues as it is, the last thing we need is arm problems.'”

But Washick didn’t stop asking.

“He always threw for his travel team in the summer, and he's played for me for at least part of the summer, too, and last year he was trying to convince me to throw,” Michel said. “I was like, ‘All right, well, let's see an inning,' and he threw, and I watched from the dugout, and it was like, ‘It's not bad.'

"Through the offseason, we planned for him to be a part of it. Does he throw super hard? Does he have the best stuff in the conference? No. Is he competitive? Does all of his stuff move? Does he throw strikes and keep us in it? Yeah. Heck, yeah, he does. He's been a big part."

Washick, who was primarily an outfielder in the previous two-plus seasons, also is hitting .200 with four RBIs, three runs scored and three stolen bases for the Trojans (4-4). He believes those statistics don't paint the full picture.

"I've been putting the bat on the ball," Washick said. "They don't always drop. But they will eventually. It has to even out eventually.

"The numbers don't reflect how these games really have gone for me."

That approach is part of Washick’s sharpened mindset. He started games at third base, second base and first base as a sophomore before he landed in the outfield after a teammate suffered an injury down the stretch. He said it was the first time he played in the outfield "since I was 5 years old." He has grown increasingly comfortable there.

"That was a big adjustment for me," Washick said. "But I took it head on, and I've just started thriving out there."

Washick said he focuses on "getting better every day" as a player.

"My mental game has gotten a lot better," he said. "I've tuned up a lot of physical stuff over the years, but the mental side of the game is a huge part of the game that people don't always understand. It's just gotten a whole lot better over the years.

"It sounds funny, but it's a lot of positive self-talk going into the games, going up to the box, on the mound. Baseball is a game of failure. You do good three out of 10 times, you're a Hall of Famer. So it's just trying to process that you're not going to do good every time. Failure, you have to process failure in a good way. You can't always be like, ‘Oh, I did this wrong.' It's, ‘OK, how am I going to learn from this and build on it?' So it's just trying to see the good in every bad there is."

Senior third baseman David Klapkowski noted all of the good that Washick does for the Trojans.

"He's definitely a leader," Klapkowski said. "He's always trying to get the dugout up and going. In the locker room, he tries to get everyone on the same page.

"He's definitely our best pitcher right now. He's throwing great. He's keeping us in games the whole time. So that's a key factor. He's a great hitter. He can take the ball oppo. He can pull it. He's a senior, he's a leader, he's one of the main guys on the team."

The Trojans hope to springboard off their sectional title that was a quarter-century in the making and go further in the postseason after boosting their position in the Northwest Crossroads Conference.

"It's a lead-by-example type of situation," Washick said. "We need the juniors, sophomores and freshmen to see what us seniors are doing. It's like, ‘What are we doing to build a winning program and a winning mentality?'"

Washick is determined to leave that type of mark before heading to college, where he intends to major in secondary education. He wants to teach history and likely coach.

Michel, the former junior varsity coach and varsity assistant who graduated from Highland in 2011, joked that Washick is "a glutton for punishment" for pursuing that path. Michel was serious, though, when he said it bodes well "for the future of our country."

Washick, whose twin sister Pryor has played soccer for the Trojans and older sister Braelyn competed as a thrower in track and field before graduating in 2022, remains rooted in the present but expressed his excitement about the future.

"It's an opportunity to keep playing the game I love for another four years while getting a good education," Washick said.

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