***DUE TO WEATHER, THIS GAME HAS BEEN CANCELED. WACO AND HIGHLAND SOFTBALL WILL PLAY A DOUBLEHEADER AT HIGHLAND ON JUNE 14***

An early season conference softball showdown is in store tonight when the Highland Huskies travel to Wayland to take on WACO in the next edition of the KCII Area Game of the Week.

In what is their first solo softball season as a school since 2016, the home Warriors are looking for their first victory against Highland since 2009. Returning from last year’s co-op team with Columbus is Sophomore Lizzie Gerot. Gerot batted .312 as a freshman and slugged .344, both good for top-six on the team.

The Huskies opened their season on Monday night by defeating Iowa City West in a 10-0 shutout in four innings. Highland went 18-11 last season with only three losses in conference play, and return their top three hitters from that team for this season, including Junior Lilly Barre and Seniors Payton Brun and Sarah Burton.

That trio batted an average of .383 and had an OBP of .474. As a team, Highland had 218 hits on 731 at bats for a .298 average, 155 RBIs, and saw eight hits go yard. On the mound, Highland will have to replace Jessica Kraus, who pitched 60% of the innings for the Huskies last season.

Senior Grace Prybil returns with a 4-5 record as well as an ERA and WHIP of 2.91 and 1.39, respectively. Opponents batted just .225 against Carrie Wieland’s team in 2023, thanks to Kraus and Prybil. Highland holds the all-time series advantage over WACO at 12-1 dating back to the 2009 season. Highland has won 11 straight matchups.

Catch all of the action live tonight on FM 106.1 KCII as well as the KCII app and streaming online at KCIIRadio.com, beginning with the Roder Epoxy Pregame Show at 5:00 and first pitch to follow at 5:30 from WACO High School.