Districts are just two weeks away, and Mexico softball is looking to hit its stride going into the tournament.

The Lady Bulldogs couldn’t get going on Monday at home in a 13-2 loss to Class 2 No. 3 Harrisburg. Mexico (18-8) committed five errors, and Harrisburg (25-3) tallied 12 hits for head coach Kendra Murphy, who made her return to Gallop Field since coaching Mexico in 2020 and 2021 and earned her 200th career win. 

Mexico head coach Hanna Jones said the girls came off a good weekend of games in the Kewpie Classic on Friday and Saturday at Hickman in Columbia. The Lady Bulldogs went 3-2 after going 1-3 a year prior. Jones said she wanted to see more from her girls against Harrisburg, who took a 6-0 lead after the first half inning and then an 11-2 lead after four innings.

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“Errors and mental mistakes were a big factor today,” Jones said. “We did not have the focus that we normally do. We had a lot of excuses for everything instead of just owning it and making a change and adjusting.”

Jones said Mexico’s best could have made it more competitive against a team that has won more than 20 games the past two seasons and had all-state pitcher Camryn Gray in the circle. Instead, Harrisburg struck early, used small ball and Gray struck out nine Mexico hitters in her seven innings.

“Our corners were not hopping on bunts like they should, and we were making errors that we normally don’t make,” Jones said. “We looked tired and flat. It just wasn’t us.”

Before Murphy was hired to lead Harrisburg last year, the program had 12 straight losing seasons that were capped by an 11-15 campaign in 2024. The Lady Bulldogs went 26-10 last year and lost 11-5 in district championship game to Carrollton and are now 25-3 this season. Murphy said she coached at Gallop Field back when it still had dirt and knows some of the Mexico girls’ older sisters. 

Murphy said the freshmen class that came in with her and assistant Lindsey Heinlein brought a good vibe and energy “to raise the bar for everybody else.” She also said she had “amazing” seniors last year who bought in and were “hungry to win and did everything we asked,” which makes change easier and quicker. More than half of this year’s team are sophomores, including Gray, and there are two seniors — Jillian Stidham and Brette Ackman — who had two hits and at least one RBI against Mexico.

“They don’t strike out a whole lot,” Murphy said. “They put the ball in play. They’re good at bunting, and they’re good baserunners. They’re really a complete team because we have power, but we can also play small ball with good pitching and solid defense.”

Jones said there wasn’t much adjusting throughout the lineup against the sophomore Gray and her changeup. Aleigha Henderson continued a good stretch of hitting from the weekend, when she had a hit in four of the five games and at least one RBI in three of them. She was 2-for-3 with one RBI against Harrisburg and Payton Sells was 2-for-3.

“We needed to learn from each other’s at bats better,” Jones said. “Some of them did a good job adjusting. Other girls looked like they were just guessing instead of going up there and seeing the ball in their zone only. Swinging at quality pitches is a big difference.”

Mexico saw competition at Hickman that included three games against Class 3 state-ranked opponents and future fellow Midland Empire Conference rivals Chillicothe and Savannah. The Lady Bulldogs lost to No. 1 and district foe Chillicothe 13-3 but split two games with No. 8 Savannah. It was closer to the team that Jones wants to see in districts.

“We did a good job of competing,” Jones said. “We had to push through some mental mistakes and being tired and sore because that’s definitely going to come into play when it comes to postseason.”

Mexico plays at Hannibal (6-14) at 5 p.m. today before its regular season finale at home Thursday against Fulton (2-17). Jones said Mexico might not be 100 percent physically but believes they can and need to be at that level mentally.

“We just have to dig deep and find that mentality,” Jones said. “There are a lot of teams that are probably tired and playing a lot of games and playing hurt. The ones that are mentally tough are going to the ones that make it far.”