Photo Courtesy of Highland Social Media

Redemption was on the menu for the Highland baseball team Saturday at their home diamond as they overwhelmed visiting Montezuma to start the 1A district playoffs, taking out the Braves 11-1 in five innings. In a very similar scenario a season ago, things did not go Highland’s way as they fell in the first round to North Cedar on their home field in Riverside, this year, things were much different. Despite Montezuma’s first inning run to take a 1-0 advantage, the Huskies stayed the course and broke through with a four-run second, highlighted by a bases loaded, three-RBI triple from Ethan Paisley that put Highland on top 4-1 and they never looked back. The Huskies put up three more in the third with Logan Bonebrake supplying a two-RBI double. In the fourth it was two more runs and the Huskies finished it early with an RBI knock from Paisley in the fifth. After the game, he talked about his night. “Just doing my thing tonight and dealing. Big first round win. It feels good.”

Paisley led the way at the plate for the Huskies driving in four on a pair of hits with a run scored. Logan Bonebrake had a pair of RBI, and Luke Miller drove in one. Eight of the nine in the Highland order had a run and six of the nine had a hit. Chase Schultz and Paisley handled the pitching duties working all five innings, giving up nine hits with just one run and striking out a combined 11, including Paisley posting a four strikeout frame in the fifth. With the victory, Highland is now 21-3 and will meet Hillcrest Academy for the third time this year in Tuesday’s 1A district semifinal.