For three years, Mexico has seen its rival Fulton win the North Central Missouri Conference title.

On Thursday, the Lady Bulldogs took another step in winning the championship in the final year of the NCMC with a 10-4 victory over Fulton at home. Mexico (9-7, 4-0 NCMC) finished with five extra-base hits to earn its second victory in nine meetings against the Lady Hornets (2-11, 1-4 NCMC).

Head coach Hanna Jones said the games against Fulton always draw a lot of focus from the girls and it showed with their effort. Mexico kept applying pressure at the plate and players were diving in the field. 

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“The girls came in really confident,” Jones said. “They did a good job of putting the pedal to the floor as soon as we got started. With games like this, it’s easy to get in your head, and they didn’t.”

Mexico picked up its fourth conference win in four tries and is confident it can win a conference championship this season. There are still plenty of games to go, obviously, but the Lady Bulldogs have beaten Fulton, Hannibal, Kirksville and Marshall. 

“The girls have a different demeanor to them this year,” Jones said. “You can just tell their mentality is a lot better when we face these teams. They take better approaches at the plate, they’re swinging at better pitches, they’re making better plays, you can tell they’re hustling after every play and we’ve got girls diving after the ball. The girls definitely want it.”

Hannah Loyd has been a menace to Fulton pitching ever since she debuted as a freshman on varsity. She is a threat to baserunners as the catcher but has also done damage at the plate. 

On Thursday, Loyd hit a solo home run for her third homer of the season, and Fulton was finished pitching to her. She was intentionally walked her final two times up for three walks on the day.

“I’m not sure if I have been intentionally walked twice in a game,” Loyd said. “If I have, it’s been a long time. They did intentionally walk me last year.”

Loyd said she wasn’t sure if she hit the ball far enough for a home run but was happy when it cleared the left-field. Her teammates hit the ball hard as well, including Landri Teel, who went 2-for-4 with a two-RBI double, and Payton Shaw, who was 2-for-4 with three RBIs and two doubles. Mexico scored at least 10 runs for the seventh time this season and for the fifth time in seven games. 

“Everybody just has confidence in themselves and is figuring it out,” Loyd said. “Everybody has a different technique when they go into the box. It all starts with confidence. You’ve got to believe in yourself.”

Jones said Mexico was doing well timing slower pitches and hitting balls down in the zone. The Lady Bulldogs could’ve had more extra-base hits but had some balls find gloves, including two lasers by Aleigha Henderson. 

Henderson, Maddy Feger and Scottie Smith had the ball go into their gloves several times in the outfield. They each made a running or diving catch to keep runs off the scoreboard. Smith laid out for a catch after making an error earlier in the game.

“It’s important mentally to flush failures, especially when errors happen in the field,” Jones said. “Physical errors are going to happen, but you have control over your mentality and your attitude. They’re really locked in right now. I know our pitchers have a lot of confidence in them because it’s basically a ‘no fly zone’ with those girls out there.”

As a senior, Loyd has been involved with many tough battles with Fulton that ended in losses so she said Thursday’s win “feels amazing.” She feels like Mexico doesn’t need to stop there in the conference.

“I absolutely think we can do it, without a doubt,” Loyd said about winning the conference. “I like the grit. We all have the same goals this year. We started the season with what we wanted to get done this year, and a lot of us seniors want to go out with a big bang. This team is really special.”