Centralia is ready for the pressure.

Centralia vs Hallsville Photo Gallery

After a dominant Saturday in its home tournament, the Class 3 No. 1 Lady Panthers held off arch rival and Class 3 No. 3 Hallsville 4-2 to win the Centralia Invitational for the second straight year. Districts begin next week, and Centralia achieved its first 20-win season since 2017.

As far as the rivalry against Hallsville (16-5) is concerned, Centralia (20-3) lost four of the previous five meetings heading into Saturday night’s championship, earned after 12-5 and 19-0 victories over Hannibal and Smith-Cotton. The Lady Panthers had only beaten Hallsville in the span during districts two years and ago and hadn’t defeated the Lady Indians in the regular season since 2020. And then Hallsville cut its deficit to 4-2 in the sixth inning.

“We had an error that allowed them to score and gave them some of that momentum back,” head coach Liz Bostick said. “These kids have got to stay as one unit. It doesn’t function if we don’t. If somebody makes a mistake, you’ve got to know, ‘I’ve got 16 other people in this dugout that are going to pick me up and support me.’”

Centralia made the plays and Jaylynn Brown made the pitches to exit that inning and close out Hallsville. Brown finished with 16 strikeouts, two unearned runs on two hits and one walk in seven innings. She hadn’t allowed a hit until that sixth inning during a game she recorded her second double-digit strikeout game of the day and 12th of the season.

Brown was two outings removed from 18 strikeouts in a dominant 13-0 win at Clark County earlier that week, which tied the school single-game record. She said she wasn’t sure she had it at first but was “super excited” to find out later she tied the record. Her Hallsville had many strikeouts like that outing but some added pressure, which didn’t consume her.

“Just because errors were made, it doesn’t mean that our defense isn’t still as great as they are,” Brown said. “They’re going to make those plays sometimes. and sometimes, they’re not. When it comes down to it, they will make those plays, and they have.”

Catcher Cora King was confident in the pitcher she has caught all season. Funnily enough, King said the part about Brown that worries her the most is not being sure where her ball is going to go. Other than that, the spin and talent from Brown gives King confidence.

“Catching Jaylynn has been easy because she hits her spots and does a good job,” King said. “All pitchers aren’t perfect and definitely miss their spots or a ball slips. Just as a catcher, you’ve got to think what’s the next play? You’ve got to be a wall and always protect whatever you can, like the runners on the base.”

Centralia has crushed its schedule for the most part this season, averaging 8.1 runs per game and 2.5 allowed going into Saturday. The Lady Panthers haven’t had an easy ride either while playing through the Clarence Cannon Conference — and its five double-digit winning teams — and bigger schools like at events such as the Warrensburg High School tournament.

Bostick refers to the latter event where Centralia finished third to reason why the Lady Panthers have been so good this season and why they could handle the Hallsville game so well.

“Our schedule is what makes us successful,” Bostick said. “We travel far to see some teams most teams wouldn’t even think to see. Life’s pressure, right? Let’s put you in a pressure situation to see how you handle it. When it happens the next time, you’re even better able to handle it.”

King hit a two-RBI home run in the third inning where Centralia scored its first three runs, including a Madi Johnson (3-for-3) sacrifice fly. King said Hallsville is the team’s biggest rival and also one of their toughest opponents. So one can imagine how King felt about her home run, but King herself wasn’t sure it was a home run initially.

“I honestly didn’t see it go over the fence,” King said. “I was just so happy. As a hitter, I personally don’t strive for home runs. I strive to hit through the fence so always line drives. In a big game like this, a home run is always fun to accomplish so I was really happy.”

After Saturday, King leads the team with a .500 batting average and is second with her 1.426 OPS behind Johnson, who has a 1.564 OPS and a second-best .492 average. However, it doesn’t end there for the Lady Panthers. Bailey Schuering hit a double against Hallsville and had six hits all Saturday as part of her .403 average and .959 OPS, Kassena Ridgel owns a .377 average and .867 OPS, Blakely Van Dyke has a .375 average and .849 OPS, Claire Page has a .372 average and .821 OPS and Ealynne Bostick has a .333 average and .876 OPS.

Bostick said there isn’t a safe spot in Centralia’s lineup right now. While the Lady Panthers can handle pressure at the plate, she said she likes to take pressure off like when they scored two runs after advancing runners from first to third base, scoring those runs via sacrifice fly and wild pitch.

“We can do a lot of stuff if we just hone into the fact that our job is to put balls in play,” Bostick said. “Look for good pitches and do that.”

“Our offensive lineup is absolutely amazing,” Brown said. “There is nobody that just isn’t it. Everybody has their goal, and they always step up to where they need to be.”

As for where Centralia needs to be and could be, Bostick said it isn’t out of the realm of possibility that this team can achieve what the 2016 team did. In her opinion, that most recent championship team that finished 29-1 and averaged 8.5 runs and .9 runs allowed has been the best to come from Centralia softball. If this year’s Lady Panthers meet her expectations, Bostick said a season of that caliber might be possible.

“I’m not going to say that this team might not be better than that,” Bostick said. “I’ve been doing this for 19-20 years. From top to bottom, I would say 2016 was the most dominant team that ever stepped foot on this field. This one might be better, but time is going to tell that.”