The Highland Huskies have made it to the state softball tournament for the first time in over a decade, and now they try to chase the ultimate prize by first facing Wayne in the Class 1A quarterfinals Tuesday afternoon on KCII.

Highland’s 6-3 win over Iowa Valley in the Region 4 finals last week continued an impressive late-season push by the Huskies, who have won eight straight and 12 of their last 15 games to improve to 17-9 and earn their first trip to state since 2014.

A young lineup has stepped for Highland when it matters most this season. Freshman Kamryn Fink sets the table at the top of the order with team highs of a .429 batting average, 36 total hits, 33 runs scored and 37 stolen bases.

Other young stars are emerging for the Huskies, like freshmen Maiya Singbeil and Kayce Schnoebelen, who are each hitting over .300 and have combined to score 32 runs, and eighth-graders Ella Schlabaugh, Adley Sweeting, Sienna Bell and Kinzie Ruess, who have become everyday players and all bat .280 or better.

Senior Lilly Barre provides the pop for Highland, crushing six home runs and collecting a team-best 27 runs batted in to go with a .308 average. But the Huskies’ biggest star of late is pitcher Jillian Stranksy.

The eighth-grader has a 2.56 earned-run average and has recorded 82 strikeouts in over 100 total innings of work this season, but the rookie’s been at her best in Highland’s win streak, going 7-0 with a 1.24 ERA over the last eight games.

Huskies head coach Carrie Wieland tells KCII Sports that her team is playing their best right now, so the mentality is that they’re going to keep playing until they end up on top.

“Everybody says [to] be proud you made it,” Wieland says. “I said [to the team that] that’s not what we’re looking for here. We’re going to win it. You’ve have to have a face and a belief to have [the] accolades that we deserve.”

Highland will be taking on the number-one-ranked team in the state in Wayne in the quarterfinals. The Falcons are 25-2 and have been to the state tournament six straight years.

Getting back to Fort Dodge comes largely because of senior pitcher Izzie Moore, who has dominated in the circle with a perfect 20-0 record, an impressive 1.14 ERA and a whopping 240 strikeouts.

You can catch all the action as the Highland Huskies battle number-one Wayne in the Class 1A state quarterfinals Tuesday afternoon on all KCII signals and streaming on KCIIradio.com and the KCII apps, starting with pregame coverage at 4:30.