Softball

North Callaway jumps on Van-Far early in 16-1 win

North Callaway made the early adjustments on Thursday.

North Callaway vs Van-Far Photo Gallery

The Ladybirds secured the early 16-1 victory in four innings for their efforts in a softball Eastern Missouri Conference matchup at home with Van-Far, who played its first game of the season. North Callaway moves to 3-0 after scoring double-digit runs in each of their games, and they only needed one inning to drop 12 runs on the Lady Indians.

North Callaway head coach Mariah McKee said while the offense has been great already, the Ladybirds were sharper at the plate early in the game this time. Once the dust settled, North Callaway had sent 17 batters to the plate that collected nine hits.

“We did a better job of adjusting early to pitching,” McKee said. “This game, we did a good job of jumping on them quickly, adjusting in the at-bat instead of an at-bat later.”

Before the first out, Megan Schmidt began the scoring with a RBI double, Kymorie Myers followed with a RBI single and Faith Cash came through with a RBI base hit for a 5-0 lead. Myers and Cash picked up RBI later in the inning and Corynne Miller hit safely for the second time in the form of a RBI double.

“They adjusted while they were in their at-bat and kept their weight back but kept the speed of their hands up,” McKee said. “They stayed back and were able to adjust within that at-bat instead of waiting a couple at-bats or a couple rounds through the lineup.”

Van-Far head coach Shaylen Bailey said the team was off to a bad start even before the first pitch as the Lady Indians’ top pitcher Dalana Gay was a late scratch because of a recurring hip problem so Reeve Woodall shifted from first base to the circle. Bailey said Gay has dealt with this issue since the summer.

Bailey said this shifted other girls around so Van-Far couldn’t adjust to the cycling defense. Several underclassmen played in positions where they didn’t have much experience, Bailey said, and the Lady Indians ended up with seven error and eight unearned runs.

“Pitching was an adjustment because Reeve doesn’t always want to be here. She wants to be at first because that’s her comfort zone,” Bailey said. “Our outfield struggled a bit today because they weren’t back far enough. These girls can hit.”

Van-Far didn’t have an easy out anywhere in the North Callaway lineup. Myers was 3-for-3 with four runs, two RBI, a triple and a double, Ella Slater was 3-for-3 with three runs, two RBI and a double, Abigail Schmidt was 2-for-3 with four RBI, Corynne Miller was 2-for-4 with two RBI and a double, and Faith Cash was 2-for-3 with two RBI.

In North Callaway’s 16-run and 11-run efforts against Russellville and South Callaway, respectively, the offense was also balance as McKee said it is nice that everyone is dependable.

“Even adding Megan Schmidt to the middle-upper lineup, that has helped strengthen our upper (lineup),” McKee said. “We still have Faith and Abby at the bottom where we are still getting a lot of pop at the bottom too. It has really helped adding more bats into that lineup, and they’re confident.”

Myers said confidence is a big part of her success at the plate as she reached base every single time on Thursday. She said the Ladybirds this year feel closer like a team and have talent at academic class.

“Our incoming freshmen helped us a lot,” Myers said. “They helped us build more of a team, and we had some strong players with good mindsets. They helped bring the team together.”

Lauren Speight turned in four innings of five hits and two strikeouts and did her job of inducing outs by contact, McKee said, and the defense backed her up most of the time.

North Callaway’s defense used a double play to dampen a bases-loaded threat with no outs in the second inning. Still, Carmen Wilburn hit a RBI single to give Van-Far one run, and freshman Elliott Utterback had two hits in her first varsity start.

“She’s going to be phenomenal batter all throughout her high school career,” Bailey said. “She started out of the gate strong. Our other younger ones that are stepping in, they are nervous, but they are going to get there too.”

North Callaway hosts its next game at 10 a.m. Saturday against New Bloomfield (1-0) before playing a conference road game at Wright City (1-0) at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.

“We just have to be confident in ourselves and just know we are on the same page and we all have the same expectations,” McKee said. “Our expectations are high this year. Whenever they all buy in and they want the same thing, it helps.”

Van-Far plays another road game at 5 p.m. Tuesday at South Callaway (1-2) before playing at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Paris with Faith Walk (1-2).

“Learning from our mistakes is the biggest thing we can do — learn to adjust when you’re in the outfield and learn to move your feet a little bit more on the infield,” Bailey said. “Our batting was decent until that very last inning.”

Community R-6 hits around Hermann for 15-0 win in three innings

Community R-6 softball didn’t need much time to move to 3-0.

The Lady Trojans defeated Hermann 15-0 in three innings on Thursday at home, tallying 10 hits and finished with four multi-RBI girls. Jocelyn Curtis, Paige Painter and Amy McCurdy each had three RBI and Rylee Rafferty finished with two RBI.

Community scored two runs in the first inning but put the game out of reach in the second inning by scoring 13 runs on eight hits spread amongst 18 batters. Curtis, Painter and McCurdy each picked up RBI singles prior, Alyssa Beamer and Rafferty joined in, and then Curtis and McCurdy brought home runs via a single and a double, respectively.

Curtis tossed a no-hitter in her three innings while striking out three and walking one.

Community hosts a triangular with Clopton (0-1) and Marceline (1-1) on Saturday, starting with the Lady Trojans facing Clopton at 10 a.m.

Centralia puts away Battle early in 12-0 victory

Kaelyn Walters had plenty of bats to support her strong pitching on Thursday.

Centralia defeated Battle with Columbia Independent 12-0 in five innings as the Lady Panthers collected 17 hits and Walters struck out seven and only allowed two hits in five innings.

Kassena Ridgel led the offense by going 3-for-4 with four RBI, Cora King followed with a 3-for-3, three RBI and a double, Jade Lawson was 2-for-3 with three RBI, and Ellie Page was 4-for-4 with three runs.

Centralia (4-4) did the most damage with four runs in the first and fourth innings. The Lady Panthers took advantage of a Battle (0-3) error in the first inning prior to a two-RBI single by Ridgel and then they had a King two-RBI double, Lawson two-RBI single in the fourth inning.

Centralia faces Clarence Cannon Conference foe Highland (1-0) at 6:45 p.m. Tuesday and then hosts district foe Moberly (1-1) at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Boys soccer

Mexico loses first Highway 54 game to Fulton 8-2

Mexico’s conference and district standing took an early hit on Thursday.

The Bulldogs lost 8-2 at North Central Missouri Conference foe Fulton in what is the first of at least two meetings between the Highway 54 rivals. Christian Mahoro netted a hat trick to lead the Hornets (2-0) to the victory.

Mexico (1-1) trailed 3-1 at halftime but managed to tie the game at 1 on a goal by Jesus Garcia — his second in as many games. 

In the second half, the Bulldogs then cut their deficit to one after a goal by Sebastian Mena. They fell behind after a second goal from Ben Leslie and two more from Mahoro.

Mexico hosts conference foe Marshall at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Missouri Military Academy defeats Moberly 2-0 on home turf

Missouri Military Academy soccer defended its home field this week.

After the Colonels defeated Warrenton on Tuesday, they earned another victory against Moberly (0-1) by winning 2-0.

Alexander McBride and Avin Hernandez scored the goals in the game.

MMA (2-0) plays at 5 p.m. Thursday at Fulton (2-0).

Girls golf

Mexico girls hosts golf quad with Southern Boone, Harrisburg, Palmyra

The Mexico girls hosted its second quad in a week at Arthur Hills.

The Lady Bulldogs competed with Southern Boone, Harrisburg and Palmyra on Thursday. Southern Boone won the meet with a score of 202, which was just ahead of Harrisburg’s 208, and had the medalist Courtney Hargis after she shot a 43.

Mexico’s golf scores included Alexis Henderson with a 64, Reagan Craig with a 66 and Ella Connell with a 70.

Mexico plays a North Central Missouri Conference match on Sept. 11 at Hannibal.

Centralia, Pace finish in close second in Moberly

Centralia girls golf was so close to victory on Thursday in Moberly.

The Lady Panthers finished four strokes behind Cairo at Heritage Hills Golf Course, shooting a 195. Bailey Pace’s score of 45 was Centralia’s best but was one shy of Cairo’s Kennedy Kearns.

Other scores for Centralia included Tess Stephens’ 48, Kyla Spickert’s 49 and Jace Brown’s 53.

Paris had two golfers compete as Miranda Billings shot a 63 and Gracie Henry had a 66.

Mexico girls tennis unable to match Capital City, Wilde sisters

The Mexico girls had an uphill battle on Thursday.

The Lady Bulldogs lost 9-0 at Capital City in Jefferson City as the Lady Cavaliers were led by Nos. 1-2 sisters Sarah Jo Wilde and Megan Renee Wilde.

Mexico’s top two singles players Katie Gooch and Jyllian Whitworth lost their matches 8-1 and 8-0, respectively. The Wilde sisters with their respective partners took the top two doubles matches from Gooch and Lani Blair and Whitworth and Lucy Gleeson by scores of 8-2 and 8-0.

“Capital City (3-0) is very dominant at the top of their lineup,” head coach Kim Costley said. “The sisters are very seasoned tennis players and have competed at the state level. They are a tough school to play, and it was good experience for our players.”

At Nos. 5-6 in singles play, Alice Eggen and Daida Herrera-Garcia lost 8-3 and 8-6 and lost the No. 3 doubles match 8-3 when they were paired together.

Costley said it has been “encouraging” to see Alice Eggen and Daida Herrera-Garcia over the previous several matches. She said they played their best in singles on Thursday despite being new to singles this year.

Mexico (2-5, 0-1 NCMC) played at North Central Missouri Conference foe Hannibal (2-2, 1-1 NCMC) on Tuesday prior to hosting Battle (0-3) at 4 p.m. today.

Mexico junior varsity lost 7-2 at Capital City on Thursday as Alexis Smythe and Phoebe Whipple won singles matches 6-1 and 6-4 and then Marali Herrera-Amaya and Bailey Christianson won a doubles match 6-4.

Centralia volleyball

The Lady Panthers lost in four sets (13-25, 21-25, 25-18 and 7-25) at home against Eldon (2-0). Centralia (1-2) plays at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Boonville (1-0).