By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
Friday night was a night that Highland Park's softball team wants to learn from after dropping a Centennial League doubleheader to Manhattan at Hummer Sports Park.
The Lady Indians rolled over Highland Park with a 19-0 victory in the first game and a 17-0 decision in in the second game.
“This has been a rebuilding season for us,” Highland Park coach Bill Nicholson said. “With a team that’s comprised of two seniors and the remainder is freshmen, I think we have been doing a good job of settling down. We’ve been getting better. We just need to continue growing and playing better ball.
“We need to find our small victories and grow.”
Coming into this year, nobody on the Scots’ roster had played more than three years of softball in their lives.
While the scoreboard hasn’t been in the favor of Highland Park much this year, the Scots were full of positive energy Friday. That energy is what is keeping this team going.
“The postive energy in our dugout and on the field is what is going to make our team this year,” Nicholson said. “We need to support ourselves before we get some support for our play on the field. We are trying to teach the kids that you need to support yourselves and push yourselves to be your best.
“Everything will come together for us, we just need too look forward.”
Highland Park wasn’t able to come up with any hits in either game and it was hard for the Scots to bring down Manhattan.
Manhattan’s Avery Hafliger pitched a perfect game in the first game and Kailey Wetherington threw a no-hitter in Game 2 in their first varsity starts.
While the two pitchers only pitched three innings each due to the 15-run spread, they were able to collect a combined 14 strikeouts.
“I was very pleased with them,” Manhattan coach Connie Miller said. “It was their first varsity starts today. Avery Hafliger is on the varsity team, so I thought today would be a good chance for her to get mixed in with the rotation. We also wanted to give that same opportunity to Kailey (Wetherington) today.
“Having them pitch lets Jaden (McGee) and Kierra (Goos) get an opportunity to rest up. It was a good day of pitching.”
Wetherington made her varsity debut on Friday as a sophomore.
“I felt like most of my pitches were really good today,” Wetherington said. “Having eight strikeouts out of a possible nine is a good start for me, especially with the varsity team. This is a confidence booster for me going forward.”
“We’ve been preparing to have a day like this,” Miller said. “We were hopeful that we would be able to come in today and put some runs on the board. I thought today went well.”
One of Friday’s biggest stars on offense was Tribe sophomore shortstop McKenzie Reid.
Reid had a home run, a pair of singles, three walks and six RBI in going 3 for 4.
“We put in a lot of work and practice for this,” Reid said. “I think we are a really well put together team. I think any issues we’ve had this year is us beating ourselves. I think we are good now, but we still have a long way too go.”
Kaitlyn Gregorie, Takara Kolterman and Paige Dupler played a huge part in the offensive outburst.
Gregorie, Kolterman and Dupler drove in a combined 11 runs.
Highland Park will take on Centennial League foe Topeka High on Tuesday.
First game
MANHATTAN 19, HIGHLAND PARK 0
Manhattan 6 10 3 – 19 11 0
Highland Park 0 0 0 – 0 0 3
W – Hafliger. L – Dunsworth-Gonzales. 2B: Manhattan – Hafliger, Begnoche. 3B: Manhattan – Kolterman. HR: Manhattan – Reid.
Second game
MANHATTAN 19, HIGHLAND PARK 0
Manhattan 7 10 0 – 17 10 1
Highland Park 0 0 0 – 0 0 3
W – Wetherington. L – Alcantera. 2B: Manhattan – Wollenberg, Dupler. 3B: Manhattan – Dupler.
