Highland starts softball season strong with impressive win in O’Fallon

On a windy and chilly afternoon, the Highland softball team started and finished strong at the plate, allowing it to open the 2023 campaign on a winning note.

Highland broke open a tight game with a six-run fourth to defeat O’Fallon, 13-5, Wednesday, March 15, in a non-conference game on the road.

It was a positive start to the season for Highland coach Glen Nicholls as he saw his club put together a strong day at the plate against the Panthers.

“We scored a lot of runs, and we brought the bats, and we will score runs this year, and I feel really good about the offense,” Nicholls said.

O’Fallon coach Jamie Corbier knew Class 3A power Highland would challenge her club and felt the lack of outside practice due to weather hurt the Panthers defensively.

“We knew we were gonna be struggling with certain things defensively, and we haven’t had a lot of practice time outside, practicing in the dirt, weather conditions, but those are things I would have liked to have seen us come back from faster and we made too many mistakes, too many times, Corbier said. “We didn’t compete as we could, and this group has a lot of talent. I’m not disappointed but just ready to get back to work.”

The game was initially slated to be at HHS but was moved due to field condition issues at Highland. Nicholls was just glad to get the first game, no matter where it was.

“That’s a solid, well-coached team over there, so we’ve got nothing but respect for them, so we’re glad they got their field ready for us here since our field wasn’t playable,” Nicholls said.

Highland (1-0), which advanced to the IHSA Class 3A Super-Sectionals last season, got on the board in the bottom of the first thanks to a booming two-run home run over the center field fence by Maddie Traurnicht.

“Just the way we got the game going with Maddie Trauernicht in the first inning hitting a two-run bomb over the center field fence, that was huge for us,” Nicholls said.

O’Fallon (0-1) got a run back in the top of the third inning as Malia Robertson led off with a walk and came around to score on a wild pitch from Highland hurler Sophie Parkerson, cutting the lead to 2-1.

In the bottom of the third inning, Highland got the bats going again as Trauernicht started a four-run surge by scoring on a bases-loaded wild pitch making it 3-1. Hailey Ritz’s RBI ground out to third capped the run, pushing the Bulldogs’ lead to 5-1.

Highland began to pull away in the bottom of the fourth.

Maggie Grohmann, Trauernicht, and Karli Dant keyed a six-run explosion, extending the lead to 11-1. Dant, the Lady Bulldogs’ second baseman, had the big blow in the inning with a two-run double.

“She hit one drive off the scoreboard, and that was awesome to see her come through like that,” Nicholls said.

The Panthers got a couple of runs back in the top of the fifth as Avery Rost drilled a two-run homer to left off Highland reliever Kaitlyn Wilson, making it 11-4.

Highland responded with a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the fifth, and Wilson closed the door on O’Fallon, allowing a single run in the seventh.

This story was originally published March 12, 2023 at 9:37 AM.