BETHANY, Mo.- The Highland Lady Cougars came into the Class 2 State Quarterfinal game with a 25-6 record and fresh off a dominant win over Monroe City a week earlier.  The South Harrison Lady Bulldogs (22-12) and freshman phenom pitcher Rory Fitzgerald awaited them in a matchup on their home field.  But Abby Lay was ready for the challenge and was confident.  And at the end, it came down to pitcher vs pitcher, as Lay faced Fitzgerald for the final out of the game.  Here's Corey Stott's call of the final out.

In a game featuring two teams that are very similar in many ways, the team that played the cleanest in the field was likely to come out on top.  And that's exactly what happened, as the Lady Cougars played an error-free game to punch their ticket to Springfield and the State Final Four with a 9-0 shutout over the Lady Bulldogs.  Highland head coach Paul Scifres agreed that defense was the key to victory on this day.

The Lady Cougars were very well balanced in all three phases of the game, including hitting, pitching and defense.  As a team, they plated nine runs on 13 hits.  Lay struck out nine of the 23 batters she faced, issuing no walks and only allowing two hits.  The mistake free defense led to perhaps the most balanced outing of the season for the Lady Cougars.

The Highland dugout was missing a familiar face Saturday.  Assistant coach Ronnie Richardson missed the game with a medical issue.  Scifres admitted it was weird not seeing Ronnie in the first base coach's box, and got emotional as he explained that his girls wanted to go out and win this one for Richardson.

The Highland Lady Cougars will next be in action on Friday, November 1st, at noon taking on Linn (23-4) at the Killian Softball Complex in Springfield, Missouri.  Corey Stott will have the live play-by-play of that game on 100.5 KMEM and streaming live at KMEMFM.com.

Cover photo courtesy of Lewis County C-1 school district

The Lewis and Clark Conference announced their all-conference softball selections Monday morning.  North Shelby Lady Raider Addy Uhlmeyer was selected as the conference Player of the Year, while Salisbury's Nate King was named Coach of the Year.  Congratulations to all of the honorees!