Mexico offense back in groove after 17-2 win vs Marshall

Mexico softball regained its confidence on Tuesday night.

Mexico vs Marshall Photo Gallery

The Lady Bulldogs defeated North Central Missouri Conference foe Marshall 17-2 in four innings as their 14 hits and Marshall’s eight errors helped end the game early via run-rule. Four Mexico players finished with multiple RBI, including the Nos. 3-5 hitters Karlee Sefrit, Hannah Loyd and Jo Thurman each with three RBI and Maddy Feger with two RBI.

Head coach Hanna Branch said Mexico (2-2) played three games during its weekend tournament in Sullivan but ended its stay on a sour note with a 15-0 loss to Hillsboro, mustering only one hit in the loss. The Lady Bulldogs’ conference and home opener was obviously a polar opposite result and a score that was much needed.

“We needed that,” Branch said. “We needed a game where we could just hit the ball hard and run the bases. We needed this confidence boost.”

Branch said the Marshall victory, which is Mexico’s fourth straight win against the Lady Owls, definitely resembles the offense she would like to see throughout the season. Up and down the order, she said her girls were doing everything correctly.

“They took really good approaches at the plate,” Branch said. “They were selective, but at the same time, they were aggressive on the right pitches. I loved how we were aggressive on the bases. A lot of our girls are really smart baserunners, they read the ball well and they read plays really well.”

Branch said her players were “able to unleash and do their thing” on the bases even after allowing back-to-back home runs by Marshall’s Brooklynn Davenport and Riley Wilkinson in the first inning to make it a 2-0 deficit early. Aleigha Henderson settled down in her two innings of work in the circle for Mexico prior to Emma Cunningham was perfect in her two innings.

Each of her pitchers did well in the spots they were given, Branch said, and the freshman Henderson even had the added excitement of picking up her first varsity hit in her first varsity at-bat, leading off the five-run second inning with a double. Mexico’s hitters kept the line moving and didn’t let the early deficit deter their efforts.

“They’ve done a really great job of, even in hardship or in challenging moments, staying positive and keeping their energy up,” Branch said. “It doesn’t feel good when you start off a game with two home runs like that, but with the girls' attitude, they acted like it’s just a reset of the game.”

Sefrit said it was good to have a boost from the offense early and often after falling behind. She was the one who brought home Mexico’s first run in the first inning with a RBI double that was eventually followed by Loyd’s RBI triple to tie and then Loyd’s and Thurman’s opportunistic baserunning for the 4-2 Mexico advantage.

The Lady Bulldogs feel boosted overall after Tuesday’s performance, Sefrit said, as the Hillsboro game was the final game they played Saturday in the tournament and was the one sticking in their memories. Without work, the memories against Marshall wouldn’t have materialized.

“(Monday), having a longer practice, we had more time to come together — practice hitting as a team and sharing more of our skills with each other instead of doing constant BP and going through the motions,” Sefrit said. “We actually got time to do it with each other, and today, it really paid off.”

Sefrit has adjusted well so far in the season in her new spot at third base, which was left vacant by the graduation of the decorated Abby Bellamy. In the first inning, Sefrit charged a weak ground ball and made an off-balance throw to just nab the runner at first base. During the previous two years, Sefrit has spent the most time at catcher and at shortstop so the position change was new in her high school career but not in her full career.

“In travel ball, I played lots of shortstop and just started third two years ago,” Sefrit said. “I’m nervous every single time I step up to play third, but having travel ball to get me into a ready position for school has been helpful for that spot.”

Production was coming from everywhere in Mexico’s batting order, but Marshall took the most damage from the heart of the Lady Bulldogs’ lineup. Other than the nine combined RBI, Sefrit, Loyd and Thurman went a combined 8-for-10 with six runs and four extra-base hits. Thurman had two doubles and two stolen bases.

The three had a big presence in the four-run third inning as Sefrit hit a RBI single and Thurman plated two runs with a double down the left-field line, and the fourth inning saw the trio come through with back-to-back-to-back RBI hits.

“They made the right adjustments, and I think that’s what we struggled with this weekend,” Branch said. “They did a good job of making small adjustments to every pitch, they were tracking the ball well, they were seeing the ball well and were making solid contact. That’s exactly what we need in our 3-4-5 hole: aggressive but selective.”

Mexico plays in the Spartan Softball Round-Robin this Saturday in Columbia.

Lady Bulldogs shut out in rematch with Bowling Green, Graver

Mexico softball had another chance to face Megan Graver on Wednesday.

Mexico at Bowling Green Photo Gallery

The Lady Bulldogs were limited to four hits in a 1-0 loss at Bowling Green by the Columbia College recruit, which followed the 5-1 loss to her and the Lady Bobcats (1-1) in districts last season. Graver struck out 11 Lady Bulldogs and walked four.

Mexico (2-3) was able to rely on pitching as well with its two arms. Keerstan Ewing allowed one run on four hits and three walks in three innings and then Emma Cunningham shut down Bowling Green in her three innings of two-hit ball, making it her second scoreless outing in as many days.

Bowling Green scored the game’s lone run in the first inning when Delaney Feldmann plated a RBI single to score one of two walks to lead off the inning. 

Maddy Feger had the best Mexico offensive effort by going 2-for-2 with a double and a walk, Hannah Loyd and Cunningham each had a hit, and Jo Thurman walked twice and stole two bases. 

Mexico boys soccer depth pays off in 3-1 win vs Elsberry

Mexico boys soccer had plenty of weapons on Tuesday night.

In the Bulldogs’ season and home opener, they defeated Elsberry with Silex 3-1 after scoring all of their goals in the second half. 

Head coach Bill Gleeson said Mexico didn’t tie Elsberry’s goal to start off the game until the middle of the second half when Brendan McKeown scored off a corner kick. The offense piled on after that but only because the amount of Bulldogs were piling onto the field.

“Conditioning won this game for us,” Gleeson said. “The other team was getting really tired. We have a lot of depth. We sub players in and not lose anything at all. I kept rotating people in, and we just warmed up. We kept the pressure up and scored some goals.”

Other Mexico scorers were Gage Walker when he gave Mexico the lead with a penalty kick, and Jesus Garcia when he added an insurance goal.

In previous seasons, Gleeson said Mexico hasn’t had this amount of depth to throw at opponents. He said the Bulldogs didn’t have two players available that should be back for the next game Thursday at Fulton and definitely for this Tuesday’s 6:30 p.m. game against Marshall.

“We’ve got some pretty good and talented players that have some experience,” Gleeson said. “Jaylen (Johnson) didn’t play because he didn’t have enough practices, and Sebastain (Mena) got sick today. Some of our key players that will contribute a lot didn’t even play in this game.”

Mexico girls tennis starts slow in 7-2 loss at Marshall

The Mexico girls didn’t like how they started Tuesday.

The Lady Bulldogs opened their North Central Missouri Conference opener at Marshall by getting swept in the three doubles matches before picking up a couple of singles wins in a 7-2 loss.

Katie Gooch won her match 10-2 after dropping doubles 10-2 with partner Lani Blair, who won her singles match 10-7. Lucy Gleeson fell short in a tight match 11-10 (7-4) after losing doubles 10-6 with Jyllian Whitworth, who lost singles 10-6. Alice Eggen lost her singles match 10-7.

Mexico head coach Kim Costley said Gooch played her best match so far while Blair’s match was “smart” and “solid.”

Mexico’s junior varsity won 5-4 behind doubles victories by Alexis Smythe and Lea Hernandez at 6-0, Yolitza Rodriguez Rios and Kayden Higbee at 7-5, Bailey Christianson and Elise Galloway at 6-4, Marali Herrera-Amaya and Christianson at 6-0, and Abby Bowen and Galloway at 6-1.

Mexico (2-4) played at Capital City in Jefferson on Thursday before going to conference foe Hannibal to play at 4 p.m Tuesday.

Lady Bulldog tennis finishes in middle of pack in Joplin

The Mexico girls had a solid showing last weekend to start the tennis season.

In the Joplin Interstate Championships on Friday and Saturday, the Lady Bulldogs finished in the middle of 24 teams competing as they owned a team record of 2-3.

Mexico defeated Joplin 5-2 and Webb City 5-0 but lost 5-0 to Lee’s Summit, 5-3 to Monett and 5-1 to Logan-Rogersville. 

Head coach Kim Costley said Mexico played many short matches because they were played to four on Friday and to six on Saturday, with five match wins ending a dual.

“It was a good outing and our first time to participate,” Costley said. “It was a great experience to play so many new people this early in the season. Our strokes are looking great. We'll need to focus on serving and net play in the next few weeks.”

Mexico played at North Central Missouri Conference foe Marshall last Tuesday and at Capital City in Jefferson City on Thursday before back to conference play at 4 p.m. Tuesday in Hannibal.

Mexico girls golf hosts quad

The Mexico girls recorded their first official scores of the season.

The Lady Bulldogs hosted a quad meet on Tuesday at Arthur Hills Golf Course with Hallsville, New Bloomfield and Salisbury. Mexico and Salisbury each had three golfers so they didn’t register a team score so Hallsville won with a score of 209, followed by New Bloomfield’s 226.

New Bloomfield’s Dixie Moss was the medalist after shooting a 46 while the Mexico girls finished in this order: Alexis Henderson with a 64, Reagan Craig with a 68 and Ella Connell with a 70.