More Wins for Highlands Softball, Baseball

Bluebirds Softball Defeats Defending 10th Region Champs

PHOTO: Allen Ramsey, DWCPhoto.com. Highlands freshman Caroline Class waits at second base to make a move in a recent game.

The opponent came north as defending 10th Region champions.

But the Harrison County Fillies (1-8) are struggling this year. Part of that can be attributed to injuries as junior pitcher Jima Hill is currently battling back injuries.

But the Bluebirds continued their nice play recording their fourth straight win to move to 6-2 on the season with an 11-5 non-region home win Wednesday. Highlands lost 10-1 in six innings against Harrison County in Cynthiana last year.

"We probably played our most complete game (Wednesday) putting defense and offense together," said Rob Coffey, Highlands Head Coach. "The pitchers threw strikes. We made the outs. We took away some outs that we've preached about all year. Harrison County isn't as bad as the record shows. We're just putting meat on the ball now. Everything's rolling. It's fun when you're in stretches like this. Once we put the ball in play, we're extremely fast. We put a lot of pressure on the defenses."

Highlands recorded 19 hits off seventh-grade pitcher Destiny Reed and limited the Fillies to four. Eighth-grader Anna Greenwell led the Bluebirds with five hits with eighth-grader Addie Mack and freshman Caroline Class adding three hits each. Senior Liz Mairose and junior Rachel Gabbard added two hits each. Sophomore Taylar Lorenzen, Mack, Mairose, Gabbard and senior Brooke Dill all had one double each.

"We have started to kind of all fill into our roles as a team by the players that start, the players that are on the bench, the people that go in for people to hit," said Ella Grimm, Highlands senior. "That's just a huge benefit for us. All 21 of us participate. Every one of us is able to come off the bench and hit in a pressure situation with runners on base looking to get some runs in."

Seventh-grade pitcher Kennedy Baioni threw five innings to pick up the win for the Bluebirds and eighth-grader Gracie Schlosser threw the last two. Highlands had three errors to two for Harrison County. The Bluebirds scored five earned runs and the Fillies scored two.

Highlands plays host to Cincinnati McNicholas on Thursday. Game time is 5 p.m.

Baseball:
Highlands 8, Newport 3:

The Bluebirds (9-4) won their 36th District opener at home. They also improved to 3-0 in 9th Region action.

Highlands plays twice tomorrow against 35th District competition. The Bluebirds face Covington Holmes in a make-up game at 5 p.m. then Covington Holy Cross at 7:30 p.m.

Tennis:
Highlands beats NewCath:

Both the Highlands tennis teams defeated Newport Central Catholic. The Highlands boys won 4-1 and the girls won 3-0.

Highlands takes on Campbell County on Thursday at Tower Park. Match time is 3:30 p.m.