Cyclones Finish Season as District Runner-Up!
Launch the media gallery 1 playerFirst Time in Program History
By: Leah Pinkston, a freshman at Leigh High School
The Class C-6 Subdistrict Softball tournament began on October 5.
The afternoon kicked off with the Cyclones playing their first game at 3:15 pm against the Centennial Broncos at the Fairbury Softball Complex in Fairbury.
The Fairbury game following soon after at 5:50pm. These two matchups would determine whether or not the HWY 91 Cyclones would move on to compete in the District Finals on October 9.
Surely enough, the Cyclones pulled through on their first game with an 8-5 win against the Broncos, despite a big push by the opposing team in the sixth inning. The HWY 91 Cyclones got on the board in the first inning, and put up three runs in the second. The Cyclones batters contributing to the big inning included Abbey Pieper, Kyleigh Rayback, and Jayden Ratzlaff, who each had RBIs in the inning.
Rayback, Ratzlaff, Lilly Praest, and Sophia Dvorak all had multiple hits for HWY 91 Cyclones, while Praest, Ratzlaff, and Rayback each collected three hits to lead the team to their victories. The Cyclones stole ten bases during the game with two players stealing more than one, Rayback leading the way with two.
Ratzlaff triumphantly earned the win on the pitching mound for the Cyclones. The Cyclones allowed nine hits and five runs over seven innings for their opponents.
This win brought the Patriots record to 18-12.
Sadly, in the later game against the 22-7 Fairbury Jeffs, the Cyclones suffered a crushing 1-18 loss. The team struggled to get their offense going in the first inning, though Ratzlaff, Dvorak, and Sasha Perrin all had one hit to lead HWY 91 Cyclones. Ratzlaff also had one run, however she took the loss in the end. The Cyclones allowed Fairbury 13 hits and 18 runs over three innings when the game was called due to run rule.
Despite this second-round loss, the Cyclones qualified for the district finals at Hackberry Fields in Wahoo on Friday, October 9. The district final was a best out of three series against the 23-7 Bishop Neumann Cavaliers. The first game of the day began early at 11 am.
Once again, the Cyclones suffered another devastating loss, 0-12. Praest led the team with one RBI, but in all, the Cyclones struggled to get in any sort of rhythm. With another hard-lost fight, the Cyclones win-loss record came to 18-14.
If the Patriots had any chance at making it State, they would have to beat the Cavaliers in this next matchup. But unfortunately, the second time didn’t end much differently than the first. In their final game of the year, the HWY 91 Cyclones suffered one last loss for the 2020 season.
Like the Fairbury game, the Cyclones struggled to get their offense going in the first inning, and were unfortunately easily dispatched by the Cavaliers. The Cyclones scored on a stolen base during Ratzlaff’s bat, and then Ratzlaff singled, driving in one. She, along with Rylee Olson and Dvorak each collected one hit to lead HWY 91 Cyclones. Unfortunately, pitcher Kennady Schmidt took the loss on the mound for the Cyclones, surrendering ten runs on ten hits over three innings.
Senior Rylee Olson said, “Our subdistricts games were very tough. These teams are some of the most competitive teams we played all year. I'm very proud with how far we went this season as District Runner-Up is a title no previous Cyclone team has ever earned before.”
Congratulations to the Cyclones on their historic season! The team has high hopes for improvement next season, and their Senior players continue to cheer them on.
Stats vs. Centennial:
1 2 3 4 5 6 FINAL
Highway 91 3 3 0 1 0 1 8
Centennial 0 0 1 0 0 4 5
(Plate Appearances, At Bats, Runs, Hits, RBIs, Put Outs)
Nessa Krupka––1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0; Abbey Pieper––4, 2, 0, 0, 1, 2; Rylee Olson––3, 3, 0, 0, 0, 0; Cassandra Rayback––1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0; Faith Indra––4, 4, 1, 1, 0, 0; Kennedy Schmidt––2, 1, 1, 0, 0, 9; Jaedyn Ratzlaff––4, 4, 2, 3, 2, 0; Lilly Praest––4, 4, 1, 3, 2, 2; Sasha Perrin––3, 3, 0, 0, 0, 8; Riana Groteluschen––1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0; Sophia Dvorak––4, 3, 0, 2, 2, 0; Kyleigh Rayback––4, 4, 3, 3, 1, 1
Stats vs. Fairbury
1 2 3 FINAL
Highway 91 0 1 0 1
Fairbury 12 4 2 18
(Plate Appearances, At Bats, Runs, Hits, RBIs, Put Outs)
Nessa Krupka––0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0; Abbey Pieper––2, 2, 0, 0, 0, 2; Rylee Olson––0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 3; Cassandra Rayback––1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0; Faith Indra––2, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0; Kennady Schmidt––0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1; Jaedyn Ratzlaff––1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0; Lilly Praest––1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 2; Sasha Perrin––1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0; Riana Groteluschen––1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0; Sophia Dvorak––1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0; Kyleigh Rayback––1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1
Stats vs. Bishop Neumann:
1 2 3 FINAL
Highway 91 0 0 0 0
Bishop N. 10 0 2 12
(Plate Appearances, At Bats, Runs, Hits, RBIs, Put Outs)
Nessa Krupka––0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0; Abbey Pieper––1, 1, 0, 0, 0, -; Faith Indra––2, 2, 0, 0, 0, 3; Kennedy Schmidt––1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1; Jaedan Ratzlaff––1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0; Lilly Praest––1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0; Sasha Perrin––1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1; Riana Grotelueschen––1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0; Sophia Dvorak––1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 2; Kyleigh Rayback––1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1
Stats vs. Bishop Neumann:
1 2 3 4 FINAL
Highway 91 2 0 0 0 2
Bishop N. 0 3 10 1 14
(Plate Appearances, At Bats, Runs, Hits, RBIs, Put Outs)
Nessa Krupka––2, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1; Abbey Pieper––2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1; Rylee Olson––2, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0; Faith Indra––2, 2, 1, 0, 0, 1; Kennedy Schmidt––0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 2; Jaedyn Ratzlaff––2, 2, 0, 1, 1, 0; Lilly Praest––2, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0; Sasha Perrin––2, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1; Riana Groteluschen––0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0; Sophia Dvorak––2, 2, 0, 1, 0, 5; Kyleigh Rayback––2, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1