Centralia softball had overcome a deficit to do it, but the host Lady Panthers won its first Centralia Invitational Tournament since 2016, the most recent state championship year for the program, after defeating Marshall 14-1, Macon 2-1 and Kirksville 15-7. The Lady Panthers scored 13 unanswered runs to defeat Kirksville in the title game, scoring nine runs in the sixth inning. Tilly Fox had the winning RBI, Madi Johnson hit a three-RBI home run, and Olivia Adams, Kassena Ridgel and Kaylie Ensor each finished with two RBI.
North Callaway finished sixth in the tournament, losing 11-4 to Kirksville, beating Hannibal 13-5 and losing 8-7 to Smith-Cotton on a walk-off single with the free leadoff runner rule in effect due to the 90-minute time limit being passed. Megan Schmidt struck out nine batters in just over five innings pitched and three RBI, Li Knoepflein went 2-for-4 with two RBI, and Ella Slater went 0-for-4 against Smith-Cotton but finished 3-for-4 with five RBI against Hannibal.
Look for the Centralia and North Callaway softball stories on Wednesday in either the print edition or website.
