It didn’t matter who or what, Mexico softball found a lot of success this year.

The season ended for the Lady Bulldogs after losing 5-0 to Centralia (27-6) and all-state pitcher Jaylynn Brown in the Class 3 District 4 semifinals. Brown struck out 20 to break her own school record, allowing one hit to Payton Shaw and one walk to Aleigha Henderson, but Mexico (21-9) finished this season with its most wins in eight years since the 27-4 mark by the 2018 state championship team.

Head coach Hanna Jones said Mexico knew it would be tough going in and had firsthand knowledge. The Lady Bulldogs lost 11-0 to Centralia in six innings this season while facing Brown and lost to her two times previously in the past two years. 

Mexico vs Centralia Photo Gallery

“She’s got really good movement and really good command on the mound,” Jones said. “We made her pitch a little bit more than we did in previous games. We worked the counts a little bit, so I’m very proud of that. I like the girls battling to the very end.”

Eight of the first nine hitters struck out against Brown. However, Jones said she liked Mexico’s approaches and thought timing was a little off against Brown’s spin.  

“I know her rise ball is kind of like her bread and butter, but the girls did a good job of laying off of it when they could and attacking quality pitches in the zone,” Jones said.

On the other side, Kaitlyn Krietemeyer allowed one run through three innings and the deficit was 1-0 when she was taken out with two outs in the fourth inning. Jones said Krietemeyer didn’t allow much hard contact and induced several weak pop flies.

“KK did a great job of keeping them off balance,” Jones said. “A lot of them were pop ups or ground balls we could handle and get outs. Most of our pitching staff isn’t exactly a lights-out pitching staff, but they do their job of getting us ground balls and fly balls.”

While Mexico was down 1-0 in the fourth inning, the Lady Bulldogs, who were the away team for being the lower No. 3 seed compared to Centralia’s No. 2 seed, picked up a hit against Brown. One game after Shaw brought in two runs going to the opposite field in right, the senior did it again with a single.

“She has done a better job of hitting the outside pitch,” Jones said. “That has been a challenge for her. She went with it down the right field line. She’s come a long way of going with the pitch.”

The Lady Bulldogs have gone with the team's needs, and Jones said that’s what she liked about this seven-girl senior class and this team. 

“They brought a positive attitude,” Jones said. “They were very coachable girls, and they were very team-oriented girls. They wanted what was best for the team no matter what, and all of them were really good teammates.”

Some girls would step into bigger or altered roles this season like even when she wasn’t in the lineup, senior Isabelle Friedrich handled some of the catching duties along with Scottie Smith and filled in as a pinch runner in Saturday’s game. Henderson pitched for Mexico since freshman year but focused solely on playing center field and hitting in the middle of the order. Girls like Keerstan Ewing and Payton Sells would be moved to different spots in the lineup but would do their best for the team.

This extends to the rest of the team as junior Claire Valenzuela wasn’t in the lineup on Saturday but made two good catches in left field to display her ability of “tracking down the ball” and her “full-effort” mindset. Jones said she will miss her seniors.

“Having that sense of leadership and coachability is going to be a big loss for us,” Jones said. “It’s something that we can keep as a standard and to strive for. They’re not only really talented girls, but they’re really good people.”