Softball

North Callaway finishes in 9-4 win vs Wright City

North Callaway softball already feels better about the team this season.

The Ladybirds started its Eastern Missouri Conference schedule 2-0 after a 9-4 victory Tuesday at home against Wright City, defeating a team it lost to 11-9 in a game last season after allowing three late runs. North Callaway scored seven runs in the first inning, finishing with seven hits and six walks.

Jalyn Leible drove in two runs on a single in the fifth inning and threw out a runner at home from center field. Catcher Abigail Schmidt had an RBI double in the first inning and also picked off a runner at first base. Lauren Speight pitched a complete seven innings while allowing seven hits and three earned runs with four strikeouts and one walk.

Head coach Mariah McKee said she liked how her team was able to finish even after the “always scrappy” Wright City started creeping back into the game with runs in the third and fifth innings.

“We can’t have a lull in the middle, but I’m glad in the end we put a couple more on the board,” McKee said. “We finished real strong in that last inning.

“They had to be selective,” McKee said. “There were a few that they were going to get. She was throwing a lot — I don’t know if it was a rise ball — but they were starting to get real disciplined on it toward the end. I told them they need to get up in the box and square something up.”

North Callaway continus its conference schedule Wednesday at Wellsville-Middletown before returning home to face Clopton on Tuesday.

Williams’ 7 RBI, Kirksville defeat Mexico 12-4

Mexico just couldn’t stop the bleeding Tuesday.

After falling behind early at Kirksville, a five-run sixth inning sealed a 12-4 loss in the North Central Missouri Conference matchup. Olivia Williams hit a grand slam in the frame for the Lady Tigers second long ball of the game and to give her seven RBI on the day.

Maddy Feger finished with two RBI, and Jo Thurman and Brooke Teel each added another. Kierstan Epperson went 2-for-3 at the plate, and Emma Cunningham pitched all six innings for Mexico, allowing 13 hits.

Mexico (6-6, 1-1 NCMC) hosts conference foe Hannibal on Thursday before it hosts Hallsville and Monroe City in a triangular starting at 10 a.m. Saturday.

Community falls short 8-7, snaps 3 game winning streak over Pilot Grove

Pilot Grove hadn’t fought this hard before against Community R-6.

The Lady Trojans went into Tuesday having outscored Central Activities Conference foe Pilot Grove 40-4 in their previous three victories against the Lady Tigers. They lost 8-7 on the road after stranding the winning runs in the seventh inning.

Jocelyn Curtis went 3-for-4 with two RBI and a double and allowed two unearned runs in two innings in relief. Lydia Forbis finished 2-for-4 with an RBI and one of three doubles hit by the Lady Trojans.

Community (2-2, 1-1 CAC) hosts two-time reigning district champion and district foe Silex on Thursday before playing Saturday in the Terry Early New Franklin Softball Tournament.

Van-Far’s Jensen shuts out, hits out in 12-0 win at Madison

Mara Jensen gave herself all the run support she needed Tuesday but appreciated her teammates having her back.

Van-Far recorded its first shutout of the season in a 12-0 win at Madison as Jensen struck out seven in six innings while allowing two hits and a walk. The senior also hit a three-run homer to start the scoring in the first inning.

Jensen had the three RBI on her second home run of the year, Reeve Woodall finished 3-for-3 with all of those hits going as doubles to go with her two RBI, and Dalana Gay went 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBI.

Van-Far (3-3) hosts Paris (2-3) — who fell short 3-2 on Thursday at undefeated Cairo (4-0) — at 5 p.m. today.

Centralia loses third straight after Highland adds on in 9-4 loss

The deficit just kept getting bigger for Centralia on Tuesday night.

The Lady Panthers scored three runs in the third inning to trail Clarence Cannon Conference foe Highland 5-3 but allowed a run in each of the final four innings to lose 9-4 in Ewing. Highland tallied 13 hits and hit four home runs — two of them hit by Haleigh Winter.

Jozelynn Bostick had two RBI and a double, Cora King and Makenzi Adkisson each added a double, and Meredith Wright went 2-for-3. Kaelyn Walters pitched all seven innings for Centralia, giving up two unearned runs by way of two errors.

Centralia (3-3, 1-1 CCC) travels to Moberly today before playing in a triangular that starts at 10 a.m. Saturday at Highland against the Lady Cougars and Troy-Buchanan.

Boys soccer

Almeida hat trick gives MMA 3-2 OT win vs Kirksville

Lucas Almeida was already the go-to guy for Missouri Military Academy’s home opener Tuesday night.

Almeida had two goals against Kirksville before MMA went into an overtime period tied at 2. He completed his hat trick to give the Colonels a 3-2 victory to begin its home schedule and its second win in a row.

MMA was down 2-0 at halftime so head coach Eliot Goodwin said Almeida had a “phenomenal night,” but the team was needed to climb back in the game and eventually win it.

“Almeida has been great for us this year and hopefully this kicks him on another level for us,” Goodwin said. “It’s always tough to be behind 2-0 at half, but it takes every effort from every player to turn the game around. I’m proud of our fight and our efforts and the way we stood up in the face of adversity.”

MMA junior varsity won 2-0 behind goals from Sebastian Rocha and Enock Runazi to move to a 3-0 record.

MMA (2-1) hosts another North Central Missouri Conference opponent Fulton at 5 p.m. Thursday.

Mexico boys sluggish second half leads to 9-1 loss at Marshall

Marshall took the momentum at the end of the first half against Mexico and didn’t let go of it.

The Bulldogs couldn’t stop the North Central Missouri Conference foe as they allowed seven second-half goals to lose 9-1 at undefeated Marshall. James Branson scored Mexico’s lone goal in the 18th minute, thanks to an assist by Gage Walker, to take an early 1-0 lead.

The Owls tied the game about seven minutes later before taking the 2-1 lead right before halftime. Mexico fell apart in the second half, head coach William Gleeson said, after the Bulldogs were successfully able to pull Marshall offsides in the first half. He also complimented goalkeeper Emile Scanavino’s ability to limit the damage, including on a penalty kick and rebound attempt off that shot.

“We came out in the second half sluggish and tentative,” Gleeson said. “We did not get the offsides calls we were getting in the first half and they took advantage. We lost our positioning and they scored goal after goal to which we had no answer.”

Mexico plays at Battle today before hosting Moberly on Monday on what will be the third attempt for the Bulldogs’ first conference foe.

Volleyball

North Callaway has couple standouts in sweep at Fulton

North Callaway was swept Tuesday night in Fulton but had a couple of Ladybirds shine.

In what was its fourth straight win and 12th straight set victory, Fulton defeated North Callaway 25-10, 25-17 and 25-8 to bring the Ladybirds’ record to 1-3.

Leading North Callaway was Bailey Hill, who had six blocks, and Riley Blevins, who finished with 14 digs.

Junior varsity lost in two sets to Fulton, bringing its record to 1-2.

North Callaway hosts Calvary Lutheran on Thursday before playing in the Calvary Lutheran Tournament on Saturday.

Cross country

Childs eighth for Van-Far in home meet, Paris’ Kinnaman runner-up

Erin Childs had a solid showing at home.

Van-Far hosted a cross country meet Tuesday, where the sophomore finished eighth out of 25 runners in the girls high school race to give Van-Far one high school medalist and two junior high medalists. Paris’ Mairyn Kinnaman was the runner-up in the same race behind Elsberry’s Ellie Hartley, giving Paris four high school medalists and three junior high medalists. The top 15 in each race earned medals.

Childs had a time of 26:14, Kinnaman finished with a time of 23:04 and Hartley won with a time of 22:14. Paris’ Alexandra Tullius was fourth with a time of 24:21.

For the boys high school race, Van-Far’s Richard Hayden took 24th out of 26 runners with a time of 27:55. Paris’ Landen Chapman finished sixth with a time of 20:03, and Brayden DeOrnellas was 11th with a time of 21:19. Elsberry had four of the top five finishers, including the winning time of 18:27 set by Dashaun Dodson.

Garrett Hopke and Jayden Hug-Hernandez were the top Van-Far junior high finishers with their respective second- and third-place finishes in the boys race at times of 10:53 and 11:05. Paris’ top junior high runner was Ava Crain after she finished third in the girls race with a time of 11:32, Gretchen Crusha was 13th in the girls race at a time of 14:12 and Jackson Mikel rounded out the junior high boys medalists with a 15th-place time of 11:50.

Girls tennis

Mexico girls defeated 8-1 by Capital City

Some aspects are starting to come together.

That is what Mexico girls tennis head coach Kim Costley thought about her team after an 8-1 loss Sept. 1 at home to Capital City and then after dropping an 8-1 home match Tuesday to Hannibal. Against Capital City, Messiah Simpson won the Lady Bulldogs' only match 8-5 at No. 5 singles, and Estrella Ramirez and Jocelyn Garcia played a competitive match in an 8-5 loss in No. 1 doubles. Against Hannibal, Simpson had another victory with Jyllian Whitworth in No. 3 doubles by a score of 10-6.

“Even though we lost, we had some highlights and played with more intensity,” Costley said about Capital City. “Messiah Simpson played a great match and pulled out our only varsity win of the night. Estrella and Jocelyn are starting to come together a bit and gave the No. 1 doubles team all they wanted. Capital City is a very good team, and it doesn’t hurt us any to play some great competition.”

Claire Hudson had the next two smallest margins of defeat as she lost the No. 6 singles match 8-3 and the No. 3 doubles match 8-4 with Lani Blair.

Mexico junior varsity won three of the six matches played, highlighted by Daida Herrera-Garcia winning her singles match 8-6, and Melanie Hernandez-Jarquin and Yolitza Rodriguez Rios being victorious in their doubles match 8-6.

On Tuesday, Lani Blair came the closest to a second victory for Mexico at No. 4 singles in a 10-8 loss. Blair also played a competitive No. 2 doubles match with the returning Katie Gooch, losing 10-6.

“It was a rough night on the courts,” Costley said. “Hannibal is currently leading the conference so we knew it was going to be a test. We came out flat and never really recovered. Jyllian Whitworth and Lani Blair had their best singles match in their young career.”

Hannibal is 3-0 in the North Central Missouri Conference and has won 11 straight matches against conference opponents spanning back to a 2020 loss to Marshall.

Mexico junior varsity won six of eight matches, highlighted by an 11-9 victory by Baylea Porter and Sandra Cruz-Jarquin in a doubles match.

Mexico (1-3) lost 8-1 to Hannibal on Tuesday at home before playing at Battle at 4 p.m. today.

Fall baseball

Allen walks off, Carroll strikes out 12 in CR-6’s 2-1 extra-inning vs Sturgeon

Community R-6’s second extra-inning game of the fall baseball season went a lot better than the first game.

Following a season-opening 7-6 eight-inning loss at Atlanta, the Trojans needed 10 innings Tuesday at home against Sturgeon but won 2-1 on Gavin Allen’s walk-off home run. Allen finished the game 3-for-4 with three stolen bases and five strikeouts in three innings of relief, and Mason Carroll struck out 12 in seven innings while allowing one unearned run on seven hits.

Head coach Joel Krato said playing 10 innings is obviously strenuous, but Community had the means to come out victorious this time. 

“The bench was electric all night providing the energy and positivity that makes a difference for any team,” Krato said. “ Carroll came out and was firing on all cylinders, throwing 89 percent first pitch strikes. Carroll has still yet to have an earned run score off of him through 12 2/3 innings this fall. Gavin was able to come in and do exactly what we expected him to do: shut the door and hold off Sturgeon's offense until we could get the winning run across the plate.”

Community (1-1) travels to reigning Class 1 third-place Cairo on Friday before going to La Plata on Sept. 23

Look for the full stories in the Sept. 10, 2022, edition of the Mexico Ledger or the website on that day.