6A softball roundup: Highland eliminated from state tourney on back-to-back Friday losses

EAGLE — The Highland Rams will head home with no hardware, despite posting their best season in four years.

Highland finishes the year with a 20-10 record, after a 1-2 state tournament appearance. They topped conference favorite Thunder Ridge twice in the district tournament to earn a state tournament berth, and opened their tourney run with a 5-2 victory over Mountain View, Thursday.

On Friday though, the Rams could not contain the No. 1-seed Owyhee Storm offense, and their bats went cold against No. 2-seed Timberline in a loser-out game.

Owyhee knocked out Highland starter McKenna Sutton with a five-run first, and appeared poised for a mercy-rule victory. But reliever Madi Devore entered the fray to start the second frame, and immediately calmed things down.

Devore did surrender seven hits and five runs in her 5 innings of work, but she gave her offense a fighting chance.

The Storm pitching was up to the task though, holding Highland to a two-run third inning.

Those runs came compliments of junior Reece Bybee, who slugged a one-out opposite-field triple into the left-field corner, before scoring on a wild pitch.

Following the loss, the fifth-seed Rams were put in a win-or-go-home situation, facing Timberline. With their backs against the wall, Highland could muster just five hits and one run against one of the top defensive teams in the 6A classification.

Highland’s one run came on a sixth-inning RBI double from Janae Whitehead, to avoid the shutout and make it a 9-1 game. But the Wolves answered right back with a pair of two-out solo homers in the bottom half, to secure a mercy-rule victory.

Eagle and Owyhee remain undefeated and in the driver’s seat, heading into their semifinal matchup Friday evening. The winner will advance into Saturday’s championship round, while the loser will face the winner of a Mountain View-Timberline loser-out game.