Instead of the four words “win or go home,” Mexico softball had four other words in its mind on Thursday.

“Do it for Hannah.”

After recently named all-North Central Missouri Conference catcher Hannah Loyd left with an injury, Mexico won 9-8 in nine innings against Hallsville (12-13) in the Class 3 District 4 semifinals in Macon. The Lady Bulldogs (19-13) advance to their first district championship game since 2019 at 6 p.m. Monday against Macon (21-13).

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“I’m just ecstatic,” Landri Teel said. “Hallsville came in on a high from beating (No. 1 seed) Centralia so I feel like we had to play up to their level because they were already on top of the world.”

Mexico went into Thursday already cognizant that they lost in the Class 4 District 5 semifinals to St. Dominic last year, which was also a 9-8 nine-inning game. The Lady Bulldogs started committing some of their six errors which eventually allowed four unearned runs and then Loyd had to leave in an ambulance in the fourth inning after having a foul pop fly hit her in the head while attempting a catch behind home plate. The mood was somber and uneasy after Loyd was down for several minutes, but head coach Hanna Jones reminded her team that while they want Loyd to be healthy and on the field, Loyd would ultimately want a certain thing most of all.

“I just told them, knowing Hannah, she wants to win this game,” Jones said. “She said it even before anything happened that she really wanted this game. If we want to play for Hannah, we make sure we win this game and do it for her. She wouldn’t want us to be down and worried about her.”

Scottie Smith traded her outfield glove for catching gear while sophomore and junior varsity player Autumn Paschang went out to Smith’s usual spot in left field. Jones said Smith caught one game this season, caught junior varsity last year and catches during the summer so she had confidence Smith could handle the impromptu assignment.

“I don’t think she felt uncomfortable,” Jones said. “It just felt like a high-pressure situation. I still had a lot of faith in her when I put her in. She did well back there.”

Jones said she knew Paschang would feel “comfortable” in left field and did “great” defensively. Freshman Sammie Gipson has had more at-bats later in the season and finished with a 4-for-5 game, including the game-tying RBI with two outs in the ninth inning before Maddy Feger (2-for-4 with two RBIs) won the game with a single. 

Gipson also pitched 3⅔ innings with two earned runs, two hits and one walk. She relieved Keerstan Ewing, who allowed six runs (two earned), four hits and two strikeouts in 4⅓ innings, and sophomore Kaitlyn Krietemeyer allowed one hit in one inning after Gipson.

“Sammie might be scared on the inside but never shows it,” Jones said. “She is cool as a cucumber when she is playing. She made great adjustments in this game and learned from the previous at-bat.”

Mexico had plenty of adversity thrown its way but took it head on. The Lady Bulldogs lost Loyd while down 2-0 to Hallsville in the fourth inning but scored three runs to take a 3-2 lead, including Teel’s go-ahead two-RBI double. After Hallsville took a 6-3 lead in the fifth inning, Mexico answered with four runs in the bottom half of the fifth inning, starting with a solo home run by Payton Shaw and ending with a two-RBI double by Alyssa Miller (3-for-5) that made it 7-6 Mexico.

“A lot of the girls didn’t let one side of playing define the rest of their playing,” Jones said. “If they struggled defensively, they still were focused offensively. That’s the best thing that I can see from a group of girls because that means we’re prepared for high-pressure situations and aren’t going to let them eat us up.”

Teel struck out in the third inning before Loyd singled in her final at-bat of the night. She screamed to Loyd from the dugout, thanking her for “picking me up.” In the fourth inning, Teel picked up the go-ahead hit to step up in Loyd’s absence.

Facing Madilynn Carmichael, who shut down state No. 2 Centralia 3-1 the previous day, Teel and Gipson said they thought the pitches were slower than they were coming in before the Lady Bulldogs adjusted. They had confidence each girl could come through, which is what happened when Gipson perfectly placed a bloop within the first-base line to tie the game. Gipson took a lead off first base but didn’t risk going to second base because Feger was coming up and then hit a flare into left field to win the game.

“I thought it was getting caught and then I thought it was going to bounce foul,” Gipson said while laughing. “I don’t know what to do so I ran.”

Jones said she thought “luck was going our way” in that ninth inning, but the girls got the job done.

“I don’t really know if they were quality hits, but it doesn’t have to be pretty. They scored the runs that we needed.”

The Lady Bulldogs believe they can win a district championship this year. Loyd, especially, believes they can do it.

“This is definitely our get-back season,” Teel said. “Now we’re there, and we’re ready to go.”