A sweep of NCMC rival Marshall hopefully will give Mexico High School softball girls an extra boost for Senior Night activities against Fulton, another league foe.
The Lady Bulldogs got back into the win column with 4-3 varsity and 9-1 JV triumphs Wednesday at Gallop Field. Today’s matchup with the Highway 54 rival Lady Hornets will be Mexico’s last home appearance before the Class 3/District 8 tournament starts here Tuesday.
Courtney Fischer threw all 7 innings in the main event against the Lady Owls, who edged Mexico 4-3 to start the season. The Lady Bulldogs needed a 2-run rally in the bottom of the seventh, however, to improve their record to 4-15 overall/2-9 league.
With Marshall ahead 3-2, Callie Bracht led off the decisive inning with a single to center. Fischer reached first base on a fielder’s choice and Paislee House came in as a courtesy runner.
Delaney McNeil was thrown out on the next play, but drove in House for her second RBI of the night. Liz Crews and Kayla Winterbower followed with singles, and Miranda Wells also singled to load the bases.
Stepping to the plate with 2 out and the game tied, Whitney Whittaker doubled to bring home Crews with the winning run.
“In the seventh, we were finally able to make the adjustments needed to be successful against their pitcher,” MHS coach Christina Gerber said. “It was an exciting game to watch, and I’m proud of my team for not giving up and making a great comeback.”
Mexico’s other runs came in the second and fifth innings. In the second, Wells led off with a single to left and on an error advanced to third. Vanessa Hays also reached base on an error, allowing Wells to score. In the fifth, Bracht led off with a walk and scored on a double by McNeil.
Other hits for the Lady Bulldogs included singles by McNeil and Whittaker, plus a double by Hays.
“We started off a little rocky. We had some errors early in the game, but they weren’t a factor in how we played the rest of the game,” the MHS coach noted.
Details on Mexico’s junior varsity victory were not available by press time this morning, but will be published Friday along with a report of today’s V/JV games against Fulton.
Mexico ends the regular season Saturday in the Bowling Green Invitational.
MHS TENNIS: Hannibal’s superior depth made the difference Wednesday at Fairgrounds Park, where the Lady Bulldogs dropped a 5-7 varsity dual.
“It came down to the last match on the court,” MHS coach Jim Graham said. “It was dead-even at that point, but we couldn’t get it done. We thought this was winnable, but Hannibal had the deeper doubles.”
In dropping their varsity record to 3-10 and remaining winless against NCMC rivals, the Lady Bulldogs got wins from Sydney Stamy, Brooke Doolittle and Allison Swopes in singles, plus Stamy-Doolittle and Abby Orscheln-Nadine Bogdon in doubles.
Next action for Mexico is Saturday’s NCMC tournament at Kirksville.
Mexico singles: Sydney Stamy won over Jill Collins 10-4, Brooke Doolittle won over Erin Haines 10-7, Abby Orscheln lost to Erica Begley 8-10, Allison Swopes won over Lauren Harder 10-8, Nadine Bogdon lost to Sarah Hamel 4-10, Monica Rothermich lost to Kaite Walsh 5-10.
Mexico doubles: Stamy-Doolittle won over Collins-Haines 10-1, Orscheln-Bogdon won over Begley-Harder 10-5, Swopes-Rothermich lost to Hamel-Walsh 6-10, Veda Crouch-Liesl Walser lost to Harrison-Scott 3-10, Ravin Palmer-Carrie Finck lost to Herbel-Meyer 6-10, Christina Smith-Karli Tumbleson lost to Filbert-Brace 3-10.
Mexico exhibitions: Palmer-Smith lost 4-8, Emily Pratt-Finck lost 6-8, Tumbleson-Palmer won 8-6, Smith-Finck won 8-2.

MHS GOLF: Home Wednesday to conclude the regular season, the Lady Bulldogs evened their record at 5-5 with a 235-248 victory over Hallsville at the Mexico Country Club.
“It was unfortunate that for our last match we had unusually high scores. All players were higher than their averages, from both teams,” MHS coach Lindsey Yancey said.
“The course is in nice shape, but some difficult pin placements seemed to add strokes on these scores,” she said. “There was a lot of chipping around the green and missing putts.”
Mexico’s Shea Colley was medalist against a district rival with her 47 for 9 holes. The Lady Bulldogs saw Ashten Travis shot 58, Ashley Bridgford 62, Kelsay Spurling 68 and Sydney Beauchamp 78.
Low score for Hallsville was Nicole Shoop with 59.

MMA SWIMMING: The Colonels improved over their initial meeting with Westminster Christian Academy of St. Louis on Wednesday, shaving 20 points off their early-season road loss.
The young Colonels (0-2) dropped a 115-43 decision in the MMA natatorium, but head coach Maj. Michael Pemberton was pleased with the team’s attitude and improvement.
“I thought we did a better job against the same team that beat us last time,” said Maj. Pemberton. “We had 11 swimmers break their personal records for the season in the dual. With a little more effort and focus, our cadets will do even better Friday at Hannibal.”
Xin Rui Zhao placed second in the 200-meter individual medley, Todd Minnett was runner-up in the 400-meter freestyle, and Alejandro Mendoza finished second in the 100-meter butterfly as MMA highlights.
(Above information reported by Capt. Mark Elwood, MMA director of information and publications.)

CENTRALIA SOFTBALL: Coming out on top for the 18th time in 20 varsity contests, the Lady Panthers disposed of CCC host Louisiana 9-2 Wednesday, setting up a showdown today at home with 16-2 Palmyra for the conference title.
Jordyn Tolliver went 3-for-4 with a double, triple and 1 RBI, while Felicia McCann was 2-for-4 with a triple and 2 RBI for Centralia. Amber Duncan improved her record to 8-0, striking out 9 and allowing 2 hits over 5 innings.
The Lady Panthers snapped a 1-1 tie with 5 runs in the sixth, sending 10 batters to the plate.

CR6 SOFTBALL: Home Wednesday against EMO rival Clopton, the Lady Trojans bowed 3-0 against Kelsey Dorsey, who struck out 20 and walked 1.
Dorsey and Community R-6 pitcher Ashley Curtis, who fanned 7, walked 1 and allowed 1 earned run, both took no-hitters into the fifth. Clopton scored once in the fifth and twice in the sixth, finishing with 5 hits, while the Lady Trojans had none.
“Clopton is the No. 1 team in our district and definitely the team to beat,” CR6 coach Bob Curtis said. “Both pitchers really dominated a game that was played in just under an hour.”
Clopton won the JV game 7-0 in 5 innings. Shelby Curtis struck out 7 and Pam Bertels fanned 3 for CR6.