---

Highland's softball players admitted they were playing for a purpose bigger than the game itself when they clashed with Pepin Friday in the WIAA D-4 Sectional Finals at Boscobel.
They were playing for a little guy they hardly knew but he was still in their hearts.
Four month old Sammy Parker died of SIDS during the past year. His mother, Miranda Parker, is the Highland 4K/Title I teacher and good friends with their head coach Sarah Hennessey.
The girls, touched by the loss, adopted Sammy's memory and dedicated the season to him.
All season long they were "Swinging for Sammy."
Friday all the swinging the Cardinals did paid off.
You cannot convince the Cardinals otherwise. In their hearts...in their minds...Sammy helped get them to the state tournament.
The Cardinals will play McDonnell Central at 9 a.m. Friday at Goodman Diamond, home of the UW-Madison softball team.
The Cardinals scored all the runs they needed in the first inning...in fact all the runs in the 2-1 win came in the first inning.
Senior shortstop Emily Rose started it with two outs when she singled up the middle. Rachel Aide was hit by a pitch then she and Rose advanced on a passed ball. Rose came home when Kendall Wienkes singled to right and Aide slid in on a wild pitch for a 2-0 lead.
Pepin plated their lone run in the bottom of the first on a bases loaded walk.
Then, all of a sudden, what looked like a shootout became a pitchers duel between Highland junior Emily Wolfe and Pepin sophomore Breanna Ellison.
Wolfe finished with a two hitter, striking out eight and walking two.
Ellison induced almost an equal amount of ground outs and fly outs, letting her defense do the work. She struck out one and walked one.
Highland threatened in the fourth when they loaded the bases on a single by Taylor Wienkes, a grounder to the infield that Leigh Drury beat out and a grounder by Wolfe that was misplayed. But, Ellison took care of Carlee Yanna's grounder by herself to end the threat.
Pepin threatened to knot things up in the sixth when junior centerfielder Tasha Heit doubled and stole third. But, Wolfe forced a pop up to Kendall Wienkes at first then struck out the next two batters to strand Heit.
Morgan Bomkamp doubled with two outs in the seventh but stayed there when Rose's drive to center was hauled in by Heit.
When Wolfe got the first out on a grounder to Alicia Ramsden at second, the second out on a grounder to Taylor Wienkes at third and struck out the last batter to end the game, The large Highland crowd erupted.
Wolfe credited her defense with playing a key part in the win.
"The defense was on top of it all day," she said. "I was nervous the first inning but then I settled down. I think we all did."
"It was a phenomenal win," Wolfe said. "We were all swinging for Sammy."
Wolfe's change-up was the best it has been this season and proved over and over to be her out pitch.
"It was really working," she said about the change. "Especially after the first inning."
Wolfe remembers the other two trips to state by Highland softball teams.
"It never gets old," she said about the return trip.
Her batterymate, Rachel Aide, who is bound for Southwest Community College to play softball and volleyball, said Wolfe had an excellent game.
"It was a little rocky at first but when she got going they couldn't touch her," Aide said.
Aide said coach Rick McMannes calls the pitches but allows Wolfe and her to have input.
"We are usually all on the same page," she said.
"It was the change-up today," Aide said about what was working. "The change made a huge difference."
Calling her second trip to state her senior year--the first was in volleyball--amazing, Aide said this one was for Sammy.
"We won it for him," she said. "We won it for his family."
Kendall Wienkes said the team adopted Swinging for Sammy after his death.
"His mother is close to Sarah (Hennessey) so we dedicated our season to her son," she said.
This is also the second trip to state for the DI Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne bound Wienkes where she will play volleyball.
"It is a nice habit," she said."One I don't want to quit."
Kendall said the defense was a big key. It had to be.
"We wanted to hit the ball and create some errors but they handled everything we hit at them," she said. "Their pitcher was tough but we see a lot of tough pitchers in our conference. That got us use to facing someone like her."
"Getting to state again blows my mind," Kendall said. "This is like icing on the cake. Twice in one year is unbelievable."
Coach Sarah Hennessey knew the girls were playing for something special.
"Sammy would have been six months old today," she said. "We had that on our minds. We knew we had more to play for than just ourselves. The girls dug down deeper."
"I can't say enough good about the Parker family," Hennessey added. "They showed us support all season."
"We talked before the game that Pepin is a good team and an error or wild pitch or passed ball could decide it," Hennessey said. "That's what happened."
Left fielder Morgan Bomkamp who had a key running catch and a double was also a starter on the state volleyball team.
"This is really exciting," she said. "It is hard to believe. It really hasn't sunk in yet."
"We played great defense today and Emily handled the pressure well," she said.