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To get through the WIAA Division 4 Regionals the path for the Highland Cardinals ran through Riverdale and their outstanding pitcher Amanda Meister.
It was a good bet that the senior pitcher would be stingy with the hits and runs the Cardinals would be able to muster off her.
That bet would have been won as Meister limited the Cardinals to one run and six hits.
The good news though is that the Cardinals made that one run hold up and eliminated the Lady Chieftains 1-0.
While Meister was tough, Highland senior Bailee Rose was tougher. Meister fanned 10, walked three and spaced six hits with the lone earned run. Rose was better, though, in all the categories with a dozen punch-outs, one walk and five hits.
The Cardinals scored their lone run in the first inning and the two pitchers sput goose eggs on the board after that.
Maddie Drury walked and Rose moved her with a single. Jessica Kosharek then doubled to send in Drury but Rose was out at the plate on the relay.
Kosharek was the leading hitter for the Cardinals with a 2x2 day at the plate. She had a single, double and drove in the lone run.
The tourney trail was finally ended by Juda/Albany when the Panthers/Comets plated an unearned run in the bottom of the seventh for a 2-1 win.
Nicole Becker was Juda/Albany's choice for ace pitching duties and she came through with a 15 strikeout, two walk, four hit performance. She surrendered an earned run and hit a batter.
Rose got the call for the Panthers and went through the Juda/Albany order with 10 strikeouts, two walks and four hits. She gave up two runs, one earned.
Juda/Albany took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth before the Cardinals tied it in the sixth.
Karen McMannes singled and scored on an rbi single by Brittani Mueller. Besides those two hits, Highland got singles from Drury and Morgan Biba.
Juda/Albany had taken the lead in the fifth when a Hailey Kammerer came through with an rbi single.
The winning run came after Riley Adkins singled past a diving McMannes at second and a grounder to third was over thrown into right field. Adkins then raced around the bases, beating the throw from the outfield home.
The Cardinals finished the season 18-8. They graduate two seniors, pitcher Bailee Rose and shortstop Haile Kosharek.