Last week, yours truly survived arguably the craziest 48-hour stretch of high school sports.

Since I had a date in Springfield Friday morning for the 2024 Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) Fall Softball Championships, I figured I’d follow Sullivan Lady Eagle volleyball to Logan-Rogersville High School and their MSHSAA Class 3 sectional clash with the host Lady Wildcats.

In spite of Sullivan seeing their season end with a three-set loss in southwest Missouri, Hermann’s Lady Bearcats wound up being the last team standing in the area and the Four Rivers Conference (FRC) after defeating Duchesne in sectional action before dispatching Licking’s Lady Wildcats in three sets Saturday afternoon to punch their ninth consecutive ticket to Cape Girardeau’s Show-Me Center and the MSHSAA Girls Volleyball Championships later this week.

After a night’s stay in Springfield last Thursday, Friday morning came quickly at the Killian Softball Complex and day two of the MSHSAA Softball Championships.

Prior to Linn’s Lady Wildcats and Highland’s Lady Cougars squaring off in a Class 2 semifinal, Paris’ Lady Coyotes and Gallatin’s Lady Bulldogs faced off in a Class 1 semifinal.

When I saw that Paris’ head softball coach was Colin Huffman, I immediately thought that the name looked and sounded familiar.

Moments after we started a conversation, the old light bulb clicked that both me and him were 2004 graduates of Culver-Stockton College (C-SC).

C-SC just celebrated their 100th homecoming the previous weekend.

While Paris and Gallatin were squaring off in one Class 1 semifinal, St. Elizabeth’s Lady Hornets and Stanberry’s Lady Bulldogs faced off in the other Class 1 semifinal.

St. Elizabeth won the inaugural Show-Me Central Conference (SMCC) and also went on to capture their fifth MSHSAA Class 1 State Championship after an 11-1 run-rule victory over Gallatin.

Moving back to the Highland-Linn showdown, these two teams also qualified for the final four back in 2005 but were on opposite sides of the bracket.

Friday’s showdown lived up to the hype as both teams were equal to the task at causing the other to strand runners in scoring position.

Scoring on a wild pitch in the top of the eighth inning, Highland posted a 2-1 victory over Linn before going on to win their second state championship in school history Saturday after a 4-1 win over Mid-Buchanan.

This game had the old heart strings tugged as I’m a native of Canton in northeast Missouri and covered Highland’s undefeated run

After seeing Oak Grove end Sullivan’s bid for a spot in the title game, it was time to head north on Highway 13 towards Centerview, Mo., and Crest Ridge High School for MSHSAA Class 1, District 2 football action between the visiting Linn Wildcats and host Crest Ridge Cougars.

Linn dropped the contest 35-0 ending their first season of varsity football at 1-9.

Two more hours of driving awaited me heading back east on Interstate 70 towards Kingdom City and another hotel stay before running around Fulton High School during the MSHSAA Class 1,2 and 3 District 3 Cross Country meet.

Between all seven Warden Publishing schools, a total of five teams and 49 individual runners will be competing at the 2024 MSHSAA Cross Country Championships later this week on the Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia.

This weekend could be another fun 48 hours of covering high school sports with Hermann football host St. Pius X (Festus) Friday night in addition to the MSHSAA Cross Country Championships during the day on Friday and Saturday.