The Highland Huskies are ready to start a highly anticipated summer of softball this coming week. Highland went 11-3 to finish second in the Southeast Iowa Super Conference North last season and had an 18-11 overall record, with only a walk-off loss to Wapello in the regional quarterfinals bringing things to a halt.

The Huskies will have much of the explosive lineup that powered their 2023 success back this year, including two seniors who are coming off third-team all state selections.

Sarah Burton is one of the premier top-of-the-order hitters in the area, coming off a junior season where she had a .358 batting average, four doubles, three triples, four home runs, 21 runs batted in, 40 runs scored and 34 stolen bases.

Meanwhile, Peyton Brun has also developed into an elite hitter, finishing last summer with a .389 average, 11 extra-base hits, 26 RBI and 15 steals.

But Highland has plenty of great returning hitters up and down the lineup. Junior Lilly Barre is back after leading the team with a .402 average and 44 runs scored and also racking up 28 steals.

Senior Abigail Pierson will be looking to duplicate or even improve her .284 average, as well as seven doubles and 27 RBI. Head coach Carrie Wieland tells KCII Sports that, while her team certainly can hit, being an elite base-running team is just as important an asset.

“That’s been our goal since I started 19 years ago,” Wieland says. “We just want to show speed, and we want to be constantly moving forward and constantly making the defense nervous, and I think that we’ve got a bunch of younger [players] that are quick and can do that for us

Highland will need to replace all-conference pitcher Jessica Kraus, who went 14-5 with a 2.21 earned-run average that was second-lowest in the conference and over 120 strikeouts.

But senior hurler Grace Prybil is back after quietly compiling the third-lowest ERA in the league at 2.91. The Huskies are slated to begin the new softball season Tuesday night when they host Iowa City West.