Mexico softball has already had many big innings this season but couldn’t get one on Monday.

The Lady Bulldogs lost on Labor Day at Hallsville 3-2 on a walk-off single by Stella Heller. Two days prior, they scored 37 combined runs in 20-1 and 17-6 wins over Grandview and Battle in the Battle Round Robin in Columbia.

Head coach Hanna Jones said Mexico (7-2) was coming off a big high on Saturday, scoring almost twice as many runs in two games at Battle this year than three games last year. The 20 runs against Grandview is the most scored by the Lady Bulldogs since a 21-1 win over Battle in 2023’s Battle Round Robin. However, Mexico struggled on Monday against Madilynn Carmichael, who struck out nine and allowed five hits.

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“There were a couple pitches that we were aggressive on that we needed to lay off,” Jones said. “The changeup was one, and we were definitely chasing things up in the zone that we probably didn’t need to. It just didn’t look like we were taking quality approaches in the box.”

Jones said Mexico either missed or popped up Carmicheal’s changeup too much in the game. By the time she noticed the Lady Bulldogs making adjustments, Jones said it was too late as Mexico was in too deep in a hole.

By hole, Jones doesn’t mean scoreboard hole as the game was tied at 2 most of the game. She said Mexico was in an offensive hole after not making much happen since the first inning, which had an Aleigha Henderson RBI double and Kaitlyn Krietemeyer RBI single in back-to-back at bats.

“Once you get to that point where you’re not getting on, it’s kind of defeating as a batter,” Jones said. “We had baserunners, but not as many as in the past.”

Mexico had good pitching as well from Krietemeyer over the first three innings and Sammie Gipson in the final 3⅔ innings. They combined for four hits, three walks and two earned runs after Jones said she tried to give Hallsville (4-3) different looks.

“They complement each other with different strengths,” Jones said. “In a close game like this, you want to keep them off balance as long as you can. They did a great job. They had high-pressure situations where they held them off.”

Krietemeyer and Gipson had multi-hit games in the two weekend games, including a four-hit performance by Gipson against Battle. Payton Shaw stood out in the avalanche of offense by going 5-for-6 with seven RBIs, three doubles and a home run in her first at bats this season after recovering from an ankle injury. The senior was in the lineup on Monday and turned a double play at third base in the seventh inning.

“It’s hard coming from an injury like that because sometimes you can get in your head,” Jones said. “She went up there with confidence. It was the same old P-Shaw as always.”

Mexico plays another road district game Tuesday at Kirksville before returning home Thursday for a 5 p.m. game against Hannibal (2-1). Despite the low point on Monday, the Lady Bulldogs still have their best start through nine games since the 2018 state championship team, who was also 7-2.

“I’m hoping we can keep that energy from this weekend going into the rest of the week,” Jones said. “We didn’t play to our ability (on Monday).”