Big defensive plays help Highlands softball team win 9th Region semifinal game against Cooper

By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter

Highlands softball coach Milt Horner had a lot to be happy about after his team’s 7-4 win over Cooper in the second 9th Region tournament semifinal game on Monday at Thomas More University.

At the plate, eight of nine players in the batting order delivered hits for the Bluebirds with eighth-grader Layla Zepf, the youngest starter, going 3-for-3 with three RBI from the No. 7 spot.

Highlands eighth-grader Layla Zepf, the team’s youngest starter, went 3-for-3 with three RBI in the Bluebirds’ 9th Region semifinal win. (File photo by Dale Dawn)

Senior center fielder Bailey Markus made two big defensive plays in the fifth inning that prevented Cooper from taking the lead. And sophomore pitcher Kaitlyn Dixon had nine strikeouts, including one that ended the sixth inning with two runners in scoring position.

After the Bluebirds’ impressive performance, however, Horner was quick to point out that his team still needs to beat Notre Dame in the title game at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday to be 9th Region champions for the third consecutive year.

“I saw somebody predicted Notre Dame versus Highlands in the final,” the coach said. “Obviously, they’re a great team and it’s absolutely going to take this same effort.”

Notre Dame snapped a six-game losing streak against Highlands with a 1-0 victory on May 7. The Pandas then won seven of their next eight games, including a 4-3 victory over Conner in Monday’s first region semifinal game.

Markus, who got her 200th career hit in the final inning on Monday, said losing to Notre Dame has “been in my nightmares the last couple of weeks” and she doesn’t want it to happen again in the region championship game.

Highlands senior outfielder Bailey Markus made two big defensive plays in the fifth inning that halted a Cooper rally. (File photo by Dale Dawn)

“We’re coming back with a vengeance,” she said. “That’s the first time in a couple years that we lost to them, and that’s going to be last time that we lose to them.”

Markus had a lot to do with setting up the rematch. In the fifth inning of her team’s semifinal game, Cooper scored its first run to pull within 2-1. But Markus threw a base runner out at home and made a diving catch to stop the rally.

“I’ve been a little off on offense, so I’ll do whatever I can on defense,” Markus said. “Right now, getting a little bruised is going to be the least of my concerns as long as I’m catching the ball.”

Highlands scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning and two more in the sixth to build a 7-1 lead. With two outs and the bases loaded in the fifth, Zepf hit a sharp single up the middle that got past Cooper’s center fielder to drive in three runs.

“She’s an amazing kid,” Markus said of Zepf. “She puts her whole body, and it’s a tiny body, but she’s going to put everything into it on this field. She doesn’t care what it takes. She’s going to do whatever it takes to win.”

Cooper scored three runs on four hits in the top of the seventh before Dixon got the final out on a soft grounder back to the pitcher’s circle. After getting eight strikeouts in the first four innings, she needed some good fielding by her teammates to come away with the win.

“Kaitlyn is a gutsy pitcher, she just keeps going at it,” coach Horner said. “But that is a really good (Cooper) team,  a well coached team, and I knew they wouldn’t quit. That’s why I wanted those extra runs so bad there in the sixth inning.”

COOPER (20-11)         000  010  3 — 4 12 3
HIGHLANDS (26-12)   200  032  x — 7 11 1

WP — Dixon (9 Ks). LP — Spraker. HITTING LEADERS: COOP — Ava Scott 2B, Alivia Scott 3-3, 2B; Milburn 2B, Childress 2-3, Scroggie 2-3, James 2-4. HIGH — Barth 2-2, 2B; Zepf 3-3, 3 RBI.

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