District softball

North Callaway stays back to get ahead, defeats South Callaway 15-5

The Ladybirds did their homework for their first-round district game Wednesday.

The assignment for North Callaway was to solve South Callaway southpaw McKenzie Laughlin, who pitched against the Ladybirds in South Callaway’s first two wins in the battle between the Callaway County teams. North Callaway scored seven runs on 11 hits in those two losses and followed that with 15 runs on a season-high 19 hits in a 15-5 five-inning victory to start the Class 2 District 3 Tournament held at South Callaway High School in Mokane.

North Callaway (9-16) started quickly with five runs in the first and eventually scored seven runs in the third inning. Ellie Bedsworth finished 3-for-4 with four RBI, Ella Slater went 2-for-4 with four RBI, Kymorie Myers was 2-for-2 with an RBI double, a two-RBI home run, a walk and a hit by pitch, and Corynne Miller tallied four hits and two RBI from the leadoff spot. Lauren Speight allowed three runs on nine hits in five innings but struck out three and didn’t walk anybody.

Head coach Mariah McKee said Laughlin and her changeup was a big focus in the team’s preparation. The top three Ladybird run producers on Wednesday — Bedsworth, Myers and Slater — went a combined 4-for-18 in the previous two South Callaway games that Laughlin pitched and the team overall only struck out twice after tallying 14 in the first two meetings.

“I think seeing her twice really helped,” McKee said. “We prepped really hard, at the end of last week through the beginning of this week, really working on staying back and driving the center of the ball. We know she has a pretty deadly changeup, so we really worked hard on staying back and driving the ball square.”

North Callaway squared up five hits in the first inning, including an RBI double by Myers that hit off the fence and an opposite field screamer by Bedsworth to make it 5-0. The inning ended when Miller, who led off the game with a single, lined a pitch into the shortstop’s glove.

South Callaway (13-13) resembled the team North Callaway struggled with in the bottom half of the inning, when the Lady Bulldogs drew within two runs after solid hits by Alaney Miller and Reagan Arrowood. With one swing in the second inning, Myers almost restored the lead back in full after hitting her team-high third home run of the season.

It was the third inning when the Ladybirds really cleaned up as it was 9-3 North Callaway with two outs and two runners on for Myers. South Callaway intentionally walked the freshman to face another freshman, Slater, with the bases loaded. This didn’t go well for the Lady Bulldogs as Slater smoked a pitch to the gap to clear the bases as part of a 12-batter inning for North Callaway.

“(Myers’) first at-bat, she hit right at the fence, and her second at-bat, hit a two-run home run so they didn’t want any part of her anymore after that,” McKee said. “I have my 4 hole hitter, Ella Slater, who can come in and hit the ball just as hard. I’m really proud of her. She did a great job of stepping up and being like, ‘OK, then I’m going to hit the ball.’”

After McKee’s freshmen cleanup hitter wiped the slate clean, Bedsworth came through again with another two-RBI single. The senior first baseman gave the Ladybirds that additional impact bat from the bottom of the order with her four RBI after going into Wednesday with six RBI and one in her previous 12 games.

“She’s playing like she’s leaving it all on the field, and that’s how she should play,” McKee said. “She’s a senior, and she’s leaving everything she’s got. I couldn’t ask for anything better.”

North Callaway plays No. 1 seed and Lewis and Clark Conference champion Fayette (23-2) at 4 p.m. today in the semifinals in Mokane. The Lady Falcons have averaged 10.2 runs per game this season and are on an 18-game winning streak that began after being shut out 5-0 on Sept. 6 against New Bloomfield.

“They’re always good,” McKee said. “They can hit the ball hard. We just got to show up and know we can to.”

Vega’s double big in 7-4 district win vs Southern Boone

Centralia was looking for the big hit Wednesday.

The Lady Panthers already had a two-RBI home run by Meredith Wright to tie the game and a go-ahead RBI single by Tilly Fox, but they needed a hit that allowed the No. 5 seed to take control of the first-round Class 3 District 4 Tournament game against No. 4 Southern Boone. Jaelyn Vega came through with two outs in the fifth inning to clear the bases and give Centralia a five-run lead that held for a 7-4 victory. 

Centralia (17-13) matches up with No. 1 seed and Class 3 No. 4 Hallsville at 5 p.m. today at Nathan A. Toalson Bicentennial Park in Centralia — the tournament’s initial venue that had to be moved Wednesday to Southern Boone in Ashland due to wet field conditions. 

The Lady Eagles (15-11) had the home field advantage and amped the crowd up even more early after Sydney Turner hit a leadoff home run. Both teams would go hitless against Southern Boone’s Paige Cruzan and Centralia Kaelyn Walters until the third inning, when the Lady Eagles strung together three straight singles. Southern Boone extended the lead to 2-0 on a sacrifice fly, but Walters escaped the jam.

Harper Sontheimer had a leadoff single in the fourth to precede Wright’s home run in the fourth inning. Ellie Page’s double then scored on a pop fly error hit by Vega to give Centralia a 3-2 lead. 

Cruzan pitched into a base-loaded situation in the fifth inning, giving up a single to Jozelynn Bostick and walking Sontheimer before intentionally walking Wright. Fox gave the Lady Panthers a one-run cushion with her single on the fifth pitch of her at-bat. Vega, on the other hand, wasn’t waiting in the two-out pressure situation as she doubled to left field for a 7-2 Centralia lead.

Following that double, the final Lady Panthers were retired while balls hit by Southern Boone’s Cruzan and Emilee DeHaas in the fifth inning cut the lead to 7-4. Centralia had two errors and a hit by pitch in the inning, but Walters sat down eight of the final nine Lady Eagles to clinch the win.

Walters had a final line of two earned runs on seven hits and three strikeouts. She also didn’t walk anyone to extend her streak of innings without a walk to 14, which followed her streak of five games with multiple walks surrendered.

Centralia faces Hallsville (22-3) for the third time this season, losing 5-2 on Oct. 1 and then 7-2 three days later. The Lady Panthers had 13 combined hits in those games and will be facing a Hallsville team that is coming off a 2-1 win in 15 innings Wednesday against Moberly.

Paris' season ends at 12-14, loses second time to conference foe Salisbury

No. 3 seed Paris lost 8-0 to No. 2 Salisbury in the semifinals of the Class 1 District 8 Tournament on Wednesday at Westran in Huntsville.

The Lady Coyotes lost previously to the Lewis and Clark Conference foe on Sept. 13 at home in a  17-1 defeat. It is the fifth times Paris has been shut out.

District softball schedule for 10/13/2022

No. 2 Mexico (19-12) vs No. 3 Bowling Green (20-9) 3:30 p.m. in Class 3 District 3 Tournament at Orchard Farm in St. Charles

No. 5 North Callaway (9-16) vs No. 1 Fayette (23-2) 4 p.m. in Class 2 District 3 Tournament at South Callaway in Mokane

No. 4 Van-Far (5-15) vs No. 1 Clopton (12-6) 5 p.m. Class 1 District 7 Tournament in Silex

No. 3 Community (12-12) vs No. 2 Silex (16-10) 7 p.m. Class 1 District 7 Tournament in Silex

No. 5 Centralia (17-13) vs No. 1 Hallsville (22-3) 5 p.m. in Class 3 District 4 Tournament in Centralia