Lisbon softball bouncing back strong

At 71, Bob Bunting has been assessing his coaching future on a year-to-year basis for some time now.

'The kids keep me young,' he said.

Not even an uncharacteristic losing season in 2015 could shake him away.

'We had some young kids that struggled. Our pitching struggled,' Bunting recalled. 'We gave up a lot of runs. There were a lot of games that we would score eight or nine runs, and we'd lose.'

A perennially strong program, Lisbon dipped to 14-24 last year. But, judging by early returns this year, that was just a blip and not the beginning of a trend.

The Lions have won seven of their last eight games and stand at 9-3 overall, 6-2 in the Tri-Rivers Conference.

Senior Olivia Baxa is 5-0 in the pitching circle with a 1.48 ERA. Meanwhile, the Lions are averaging 7.6 runs per game behind a balanced attack.

Nobody has more than 13 hits, and nobody has hit a home run, but seven Lions have at least 11 hits.

Junior Ally Smith leads the way at .481 with 10 RBIs. Sophomore Morgan Kortemeyer and freshman Sam Schrantz are hitting .440.

Bunting has accumulated more than 1,000 coaching wins, and won three state championships in the 1990s. He will be inducted into the National Hall of Fame in Louisville, Ky., later this month.

The Lions' schedule picks up this weekend; they'll play a non-conference game at Northeast on Friday, then meet Waterloo West and Davenport West on Saturday in Davenport.

HIGHLAND: THE FINAL AREA UNBEATEN

The Highland Huskies stepped out of league play for their first stern test of the season Tuesday.

No doubt, they aced that exam.

The Huskies traveled to Class 2A 15th-ranked Jesup, built a 10-run lead and settled for a 12-7 win, boosting their record to 7-0.

They are the final undefeated team in the area.

'Who'd have thunk?' Highland Coach Carrie Wieland said. 'I'm really excited with this team. They've done everything we've asked.'

Like run. A lot. The Huskies have stolen 47 bases in 52 attempts. Junior Kelsey Hora has swiped 17 bases and is batting .500.

'We develop speed,' Wieland said. 'The girls lift three times a week, and they learn to be aggressive on the basepaths. We try not to be too predictable.'

Cheyann Adamson (.478, 15 RBIs) is the lone senior on the roster. Freshman Megan Hoenig is the top pitcher, at 6-0 and a 1.05 ERA.

'I didn't expect to be 7-0 right now,' Wieland said. 'But I guess I didn't look at the schedule enough to worry about not being 7-0.'

l Comments: (319) 368-8857; jeff.linder@thegazette.com