Bowling Green’s Megan Graver picked up where she left off Wednesday to shut down Mexico on Thursday.

In the semifinals of the Class 3 District 3 Tournament, Mexico struck out 16 times against the Bowling Green pitcher after Graver notched 17 punchouts in the previous round against Orchard Farm. The top two hitters in Mexico’s lineup, Jo Thurman and Brooke Teel, had the only Lady Bulldog hits to wrap up the Lady Bulldogs’ season at 19-13.

Mexico’s lone run happened in the seventh inning when Thurman and Teel singled on soft ground balls to break up the no-hitter. Down 5-0, the Lady Bulldogs had the bases loaded with one out after Abby Bellamy was intentionally walked. Lexie Willer picked up a sacrifice fly, but that was the only damage.

Emma Cunningham started in the circle for Mexico, allowing two earned runs (three unearned off three errors) on five hits and one walk and striking out five. Senior Eboni Mayfield appeared in her last game along with Bellamy, Willer, Kierstan Epperson and Shi Exendine, striking out one and allowing no hits in two shutout innings.

Two of those errors gave Bowling Green (21-9) a 1-0 lead in the first inning that grew to 4-0 in the fourth after the third error. Eight of the first nine Mexico hitters struck out and a Lady Bulldog didn’t reach base until an error was committed in the sixth inning.

This past week, three Lady Bulldogs made the all-North Central Missouri Conference team as Bellamy, Thurman and freshman Hannah Loyd were selected. The trio were the top-three home run hitters for Mexico this year, combining for 21 long balls to help the team achieve a 12-3 record whenever a Lady Bulldog homered. Bellamy and Thurman each earned their third straight selections, and Loyd was the only freshman on the team.

Mexico bats around in 15-0 district victory against Wright City

Mexico head coach Curt Riley was worried going into Tuesday.

His team had the No. 2 seed and was hosting its first-round Class 3 District 3 Tournament game against No. 7 Wright City but realized this was the second time the Lady Wildcats came up on the schedule. The Lady Bulldogs made those worries melt away after defeating Wright City 15-0 in four innings, scoring 10 runs in the second inning that saw 15 Mexico batters and eight hits.

Maddy Feger made the biggest impact on the inning, driving in all four of her runs and locking down three of them on one swing. Feger hit a three-RBI home run to give Mexico’s its first runs, which grew quickly following RBI from Jo Thurman, Abby Bellamy and Kierstan Epperson. Epperson finished 3-for-4 with three RBI and two doubles, Lexie Willer added three RBI and a double, and Eboni Mayfield pitched all four innings while allowing one hit and walk and striking out six — four looking.

Willer also drew the walk that led off the big inning that was the beginning of an all-around attack from the Mexico offense, Riley said, which was an encore to the 12-2 five-inning victory against the Lady Wildcats (9-17) on Oct. 1.

“We hit the ball well up and down the lineup,” Riley said. “It was a good effort. I was a little worried about it coming in because it’s hard to beat somebody twice, but I thought the girls were really motivated and ready to play.”

After Karlee Sefrit made a few plays on ground balls in her first action at shortstop since leaving a late September game against Kirksville with an injury, Mexico didn’t take long to lift the ball over the Wright City defense. Epperson’s bloop single preceded Feger’s blast that was close to being the first of back-to-back jacks as Sefrit missed a home run by inches.

After taking a 7-0 lead, Epperson and Feger dug in again to bring home more Lady Bulldogs with a double and single, respectively, for a 10-0 lead.

“Maddy’s a hitter,” Riley said. “She’s got bat speed, and she gets it through the zone fast, makes great contact.”

Wright City left-handed pitcher Emma Thomas was done after two innings. Riley said it was definitely different than what the Lady Wildcats showed Mexico in the first meeting. Mayfield provided Wright City a different look as well since Emma Cunningham was the pitcher in the first game.

“They gave us a different look, and her speed wasn’t what we were used to,” Riley said. “We made adjustments, and they brought (Sophia Wegrzyn) in who pitched against us last time and we started hitting her too.”

Boys soccer

Neither Mexico nor Kirksville played the type of defense that would lose a game Tuesday night.

Still, one of the North Central Missouri Conference and district foes had to lose, and it ended up being Mexico after Kirksville’s Will Tiedemann scored the winning goal in the 79th minute of Mexico’s 1-0 loss to extend its season-high streak to seven. The Bulldogs outshot Kirksville 13-11, and goalkeeper Emille Scanavino made nine saves.

Head coach William Gleeson said after Monday’s 8-0 mercy-rule result in Fulton — the fifth of six games against state-ranked opponents — Mexico played much better, partly because its defense was more complete with the exception of Kevin Lopez, who was nursing a shoulder injury from Monday. Regardless, the defense was more stout than it had been in the previous week.

“It was a defensive game all the way around,” Gleeson said. “Just a little slip there with a minute left, but it was much better. I’m happy with the boys. They played well.”

The “little slip” occurred on Tiedemann’s goal when he found himself alone in front of the goal and then proceeded to boot in the deciding score. Gleeson said Tiedemann has a “great shot” that gave Kirksville (4-8-3, 3-5 NCMC) the winning goal late in a 2-0 loss Sept. 13.

“We just kind of lost that mark in the back,” Gleeson said. “Somebody should have been covering. The ball came back there, and we just didn’t see it and didn’t get it. We just lost our man basically.”

Outside of that error, Mexico held Kirksville to less than seven shots in each half, limiting the amount of clean looks the Tigers had at the net.
Scanavino notched one of his four first-half saves when he shot his hand upward to knock a shot off its trajectory to the back of the net.

“We played a little more aggressive, especially in the midfield, which helped us push more balls up and helped us give the defense a little break so that they could do it all over again when it came back,” Gleeson said. “I think that more aggressive play in the midfield was the difference.”

The Bulldogs didn’t have that many clean looks either, especially in the first half. Oftentimes, Gage Walker sprinted with the ball down the left side of the field, only to be locked into an off-balance shot from the corner. When the Bulldogs positioned the ball in front, they were unable to send a solid shot Kirksville goalkeeper Kellen Simmons’ way.

The second half was where the Bulldogs had a few near misses that loomed large later.

James Branson had the ball at his feet more in the latter 40 minutes, sailing a shot above the crossbar one time. Marcos Matuz was awarded a free kick that couldn’t make it past Simmons.

“We kind of moved some people around,” Gleeson said. “We were getting looks, but we weren’t getting great looks. The second half, we got a lot more better chances, but we just couldn’t get it in.”

Bulldogs shut out 8-0 vs Hannibal

Mexico couldn't get anything past Hannibal's Parker Terrill.

The Bulldogs dropped its second game this season against the North Central Missouri Conference Pirates while Terrill set a school record for Hannibal by recording his 33rd career assist. He had his seventh shutout of the year after Colton Dryden supported him with a hat trick.

Mexico junior varsity lost its game 5-0.

Mexico (4-14, 1-8 NCMC) wraps up its conference schedule Monday at Moberly (2-14-1, 1-7 NCMC) and while also engaging in the first of three out of four games against district opponents to close the regular season. The Bulldogs' record against district foes currently stands at 2-5.

Volleyball

Mexico aces senior night in sweep of Brookfield

Mexico honored its seniors Tuesday night the best way it could.

A sweep of Brookfield. The Lady Bulldogs earned its third three-set sweep of the season to win on Senior Night, taking the sets 25-5, 25-4 and 25-12 and finishing with 19 service aces.

No Lady Bulldog finished with double-digit kills, but Mexico’s serve was working so well for several players, including seniors Jessica Stephens’ and Ali Walotka’s team-high five, senior Aleigha Jackson’s four and Lizzie Joiner’s two. Stephens also led the team with eight kills and six digs. Joiner and senior Ally Wilson each had a team-high 11 assists.

Mexico’s hitting percentage in the second set outperformed its .417 percentage in the first set as the Lady Bulldogs owned a .625 percentage, making one error in the frame. The third set went down to .111, allowing Brookfield (1-10) to get as close as 16-12 prior to a 9-0 Mexico run to close the match.

Mexico (6-12-1, 3-3 NCMC) competes today in the Eugene Volleyball Tournament.

Junior cross country

Mexico boys run to best finish in Centralia

The Mexico junior high boys earned their best finish of the season in Centralia.

On Tuesday at the Centralia Invitational, the Bulldogs finished second with 63 points behind winner Christian Fellowship’s 49 points after Braiden Bock and Aiden Wilson won medals for finishing seventh and 11th, respectively, and Oscar Alvarez-Zapot came close to medaling in the top 15 by finishing 16th. Grace Hudson took seventh to medal on the girls side.

In the 69-runner boys two mile race, Bock ran to a time of 13:00, Wilson had a time of 13:17 and Alvarez-Zapot had a time of 13:46. Mark Twain’s Jared Schnuck took the last medal spot with a time of 13:30.70, and Christian Fellowship’s Haden Jokerst won with a time of 11:21.60.

Among 71 runners in the girls two mile run, Hudson had a time of 14:15, and Brenda Matuz was 20th with a time of 15:33. Monroe City’s Rylie Mulvaney secured the last medal spot with a time of 15:01, and Christian Fellowship’s Angelina Cottone won with a time of 11:50.90.