Bailey Markus would rather not hear Highlands considered as a singles-hitting softball team.

Yet small-ball offense was the reason the Bluebirds improved to 8-3 after Monday’s 5-4 win at Simon Kenton.

“We like to do the small-ball when we need to, to just get teams thrown off, I guess you could say,” said Markus, who was 2-for-4. “But overall, I think we’re a pretty good power-hitting team.”

Small ball was nevertheless sufficient. Seven of Highlands’ eight hits were singles, with three not leaving the infield.

Highlands coach Milt Horner, meanwhile, learned a valuable lesson.

“I learned that taking five days off with no softball and driving back from Myrtle Beach (South Carolina) makes for a little bit of a flat team,” Horner said.

Highlands senior Kennedy Baioni did her part in the pitcher’s circle and at the plate – she struck out six over four innings to earn the win, doubled and scored three runs. 

“We threw a lot of rise balls again, which not a lot of teams expect ‘cause I barely threw it last year,” Baioni said. “Rise balls and changeups were the most effective with them to keep them off balance … We wanted them to get under the ball.”

Baioni’s teammate, freshman Kaitlyn Dixon, maybe surpassed Baioni – her two-run single was part of the Bluebirds’ four-run second inning, and she earned her first save by striking out seven over the final three frames.

At 5-feet-4, Dixon is six inches shorter than Baioni, but she said that makes no difference.

“I tend to throw more rising screwballs, and (Baioni) normally doesn’t,” Dixon said.

Besides falling to 8-3, perhaps the most frustrating thing for Simon Kenton was leaving 11 runners on base. 

“Too many strikeouts and not enough balls in play,” Pioneers coach Chris Young said. 

Simon Kenton junior Landrey Dance struck out four in the loss. It was her fourth start of the season and the second in which she wasn’t on an 80 or so pitch count. (Her 98 pitches included 68 strikes.)

That Dance is anywhere near the circle has stumped her doctors. She injured her right shoulder last June, but no one quite knows what the problem is.

“We actually went to multiple doctors,” Dance said. “We still never really got a true diagnosis.”

Among the possibilities: brachial plexus stretch, which according to Johns Hopkins Medicine involves neck trauma in a “network of nerves in the shoulder that carries movement and sensory signals from the spinal cord to the arms and hands”; and thoracic outlet syndrome, which occurs when nerves or blood vessels are compressed by the rib, collarbone or neck muscles at the top of the outlet.

Dance happily said her shoulder felt fine Monday.

“I haven’t had any shoulder pain in a while,” she said. “It’s very exciting; I was out for pretty much a year.”

Highlands had a less-than-auspicious first inning. After Bailey Markus grounded out to second, Morgan Pompilio singled to right, but was caught off base when Payton Brown lined out to Addi Johnson for the double play.

The opening inkling of Simon Kenton’s offensive woes came in the bottom of the first. The Pioneers loaded the bases with two out – and watched the drive die because Baioni fanned Johnson.

Highlands was more fortunate in the second. Infield singles by Bailey Markus and Baioni and Dixon’s single to right led to four runs.

In the fourth, Baioni’s double and Markus’ single to right gave Highlands a 5-0 lead. Simon Kenton scored twice in their fifth at-bat – Courtney Beach came home on Taylor Jones’ double, and Jayden Jones scored on an error.

Dixon relieved Baioni in the fifth and struck out the side.

Simon Kenton’s Emilie Young opened the bottom of the seventh with a single. She and Adreena Barton scored on Jayden Jones’ second double, but Dixon ended the game by catching Kaylee Korros looking for the final strikeout.

“We weren’t as enthusiastic as I’d like us to be,” Horner said. “We didn’t play with as much fire as I’d like us to play with.”

HIGHLANDS — 040-100-0 – 5-8-1

SIMON KENTON — 000-200-2 – 4-8-2

Baioni, Dixon (5) and Barth; L. Dance, A. Johnson (7) and Young. WP-Baioni (4-1). LP-L. Dance (4-1). Save: Dixon (1) 2B-Baioni (H), J. Jones (SK) 2, T. Jones (SK).