No one expected the Highland softball to be there.

The Huskies may not have even expected it, themselves, but that doesn’t change the reality.

They were there.

Even though the Huskies saw their Cinderella run through the Section 9 Class B tournament end with a 4-1 loss Friday morning to the top-seeded Marlboro Dukes, they’ll remember the trail they blazed to get there.

“This was definitely the best, and most exciting season of my career,” said senior catcher Olivia Bell, who came up when she was in eighth grade. “I didn’t know we had it in us to play as good as we did until we started. And once we started, we didn’t stop.”

The Huskies did well enough to qualify for the tournament, even lost three of their last four to end the regular season. Two of those losses came to teams they saw in the sectional tournament. They lost 12-0 to the Dukes on May 9 and two days later lost, 17-3 to Spackenkill.

Earlier in the season, they lost 21-0 to the Dukes.

“They manhandled us pretty well with what they did,” Highland coach Kathelene Canosa said. “We just had a different approach from our pitching to our hitting to our fielding. We knew what we had to do to keep them from having big innings. We had to keep the ball down; we had to make sure they were making the routine plays that we had to make to keep a big inning from happening.”

The Huskies had earned the seventh seed and were sent to Spackenkill on May 23 to face a team that had just beaten them by 14 runs, and it took some fairy tale magic to get the win.

McKenzie Brooker and Marissa Incorvaia each had pinch-hit singles to start a three-run seventh-inning rally to tie a game the Huskies would eventually win 8-7 in eight innings.

Katie Dauenheimer and Lexi Winters both doubled to score the winning run and Alexa Pavese set the Spartans down 1-2-3 to start the run.

“That win was astronomical for us,” Bell said. “It really showed us, and we proved to ourselves that we could be the team that goes all the way.”

Then Bell had two home runs two days later as the Huskies pounded third-seeded Burke Catholic, 15-0.

The sectional playoff run was partially a product of the schedule the Huskies play during the regular season, a schedule that is full of Class A teams like FDR, Saugerties, and a collection of strong class B teams.

“We take our beatings all year long, but when it comes to playing Bs, we know we can play with them,” Canosa said. “We know we can. So, when we beat that Spackenkill team, it just reaffirmed what was (in our minds). Physically, we can do it; we can play with them, and we did.”

The Huskies lost five other seniors in addition to Bell. First baseman Allie Fuller, second baseman Sophie Canino, third baseman Gillian Dwyer, left fielder Maggie VanValkenburgh and right fielder Madison Richter.

The rest of the team, including freshman pitcher Alexa Pavese is expected back.

“She’s only a freshman she’s going to unleash some hell out there in the next three years,” Bell said. “I’m excited to see it.”