The Lunachix walked off the field happy. 

The local summer travel ball team finished the 2025 Perfect Game Softball World Series on July 3 in Chesterfield as champions in the final summer area girls would play together. Girls from Mexico, Community R-6, North Callaway and Paris were much of the contributors on the roster.

Mexico’s Payton Shaw, Landri Teel and Kayleigh Samuelson; Community R-6’s Jocelyn Curtis and Chloe Johnson; North Callaway’s Corynne Miller and Ella Slater; and Paris’s Reese Sutton, Sophia Crusha, Emma Ashenfelter and Kennedy Ashenfelter gave the Lunachix 07 18u team a huge local presence this season. 

“It was incredible,” said Curtis, who had the walk-off double to defeat Midwest Grit 2007 18U (Jackson) 2-1 for the championship. “Winning the PGA World Series in Chesterfield was amazing. I couldn’t have dreamed up the ending any better.”

The team began the season 5-0 to win a tournament championship at Macks Creek and then went on a 5-0 run after a loss at the World Series. Against a field of teams from Missouri, Kentucky and Illinois, the Lunachix won its five games by a combined margin of eight runs and lost its initial game 3-1.

There were several girls who planned on not returning to the Lunachix next year because of the number of seniors on the roster. This was one final run that ended in the best possible way.

“What really motivated us was this was our last year together,” Shaw said. “We really enjoyed each other and really put everything aside and played our hardest.”

Shaw finished the season with 25 RBIs for the second-most on the team behind Sutton. The soon-to-be Paris senior had 38 RBIs during the 19-21 season for the Lunachix and also led the team with 36 hits and 20 extra-base hits to go along with a .387 batting average and 1.085 OPS. Sutton was also one of the team’s top pitchers with a 3.71 ERA in 56⅔ innings.

Sutton was one of the new additions this summer along with Slater and fall and past summer teammate Emma Ashenfelter. She said it might have taken longer for the team to fully gel despite the widespread talent, but everything was definitely figured out by the end.

“We knew we were all really good and had the potential to be really good together,” Sutton said. “It felt really good at our last tournament together to just come though and play like how we knew we could play together.”

Sutton said the team was “so welcoming and easy to get along with” after having a bit of experience playing some girls from her past three travel seasons with the Mid-MO OutKasts, who disbanded last year. She said the defense and timely hitting of the Lunachix was at its best during her final summer tournament. 

The timeliest hit of course was the walk-off double by Curtis. Her blast off the top of the fence scored upcoming Father Tolton senior and .447 hitter Montana Strobel from first base with two outs. 

“I was on deck and thinking, ‘I’m glad this is me. I’m ready to win this game,’” Curtis said. “I had the right mindset and I went up into that box knowing I was going to crush this ball.”

Curtis said she has 10 years of travel ball experience and has been with the Lunachix for that long as well. She was one of the girls on the team that long ago along with Teel and Johnson. While Curtis said the Lunachix has won quite a few championships before this one, this last one was “a very memorable one” before the upcoming Community senior possibly plays for another team next summer.

Shaw said she wanted the Lunachix to end the season strong after some struggles so she “put my hardest out there and did my best and all that I could.” She said playing for these girls was simple.

“I really loved how we got along so well,” Shaw said. “Whenever we get along, we play together well and do good things.”

Curtis said it was cool to have the local schools unite for “the love of softball” in this final summer after competing against each other during the fall. That’s what happened and why everything “clicked” after that first loss of the World Series tournament.

“We are competitive and can come together,” Curtis said. “We also learned to love each as a family and support each other in and out of the sport.”

Sutton returns to a Paris team this fall who advanced to its first Final Four in school history last year and is eager for success. She said she and Emma Ashenfelter benefitted from playing in the harder A division this season for the first time in their summer careers. 

“A lot of it was confidence and knowing you had what it took to be good,” Sutton said about her success this summer. “(Emma, Sophia and I) all could struggle with confidence at times, but having been to state and being in stressful moments, it all helped with our confidence.”

Mexico has won 31 total games in Shaw’s first two fall seasons, and Shaw hopes even more wins are in store this fall.

“I hope that my confidence stays good,” Shaw said. “Going from this (summer) season to this (fall) season, I hope we get along just as good and everything goes great while having that confidence.”

Curtis said Community will have a younger roster following two 20-win seasons but thinks a good fall season is on the horizon. She thinks she can help bring energy similar to the passion from her Lunachix head coach Brandon Talbot and coach and father Bob Curtis. She said she is grateful to both of them for igniting her love of softball. 

“I think it’s going to go really well,” Curtis said. “I’m super excited to see what we can do this year, and I think we can do big things. I hope that my energy as a senior can translate to the rest of the team and lead us to success this year.”