Softball Recap: Red Mountain Falls Short Against Ranked Highland

Red Mountain faced Highland in a battle between two of the state's top teams on Thursday. The Mountain Lions fell just short of the Hawks by a score of 3-2. The Mountain Lions were given a dose of their own medicine in this game as the Hawks apparently hadn't forgotten their loss the last time these teams played back in March of 2024.

Kendall Cochran spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered three earned runs on seven hits and racked up eight Ks.

On the hitting side, Red Mountain saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Vanessa Pollard, who went 1-for-3 with one RBI. Payton Westra was another, getting on base in all four of her plate appearances.

This is the second loss in a row for Red Mountain and nudges their season record down to 19-6-1. As for Highland, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won ten of their last 11 contests. That's provided a nice bump to their 22-10 record this season.

Red Mountain will have a little extra prep time after the defeat as they won't be playing again for a while. They'll take on Mountain View on the 30th. The Mountain Lions' pitchers better be ready for this one: the Toros have averaged an impressive 8.5 runs per game this season. As for Highland, they didn't take long to hit the field again: they've already played their next matchup, a 1-0 win against Hamilton on the 10th.