Mexico’s moment had finally come on Wednesday.
Colton Dickey’s walk-off single secured a 3-2 victory over Mexico’s rival Fulton (13-19) and the program’s first district …
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Mexico’s moment had finally come on Wednesday.
Colton Dickey’s walk-off single secured a 3-2 victory over Mexico’s rival Fulton (13-19) and the program’s first district championship since 2014. The state No. 9 Bulldogs (23-11) went out on top of the Class 4 District 7 bracket in their first time hosting districts since 2015.
“I started the game 0-3 so kind of not a good day at the plate,” Dickey said. “In that last at bat, I just took a deep breath, watched the ball and hit it. I didn’t know where it was going to go, but I just made contact.”
Mexico has been close to victory in districts and even a championship over the last three years. Three years ago, the Bulldogs lost 2-1 in the district title game to Macon and then were eliminated in the first game over the last two years with losses of 1-0 and 2-0 to Father Tolton and Boonville, respectively. Its championship game opponent this year had already defeated Mexico twice this season and hadn’t lost a district game to the Bulldogs since 2014.
Regardless of all that, head coach Daniel McCarty said there didn’t seem to be any jitters or nerves coming from his team. In the first inning, his son, Chance McCarty, led off the game with a double before scoring on a Drew DeMint sacrifice fly and then Brayden Arnold threw out a runner at first base from right field. McCarty joked that he might have been the most nervous in the dugout and “wanted to be nervous for them.”
“These seniors have been through it since their freshman year,” McCarty said. “They’ve always been so close. Going back to their freshman year, those years helped them along the way to tonight. Everybody was calm and collected.”
DeMint holds a handful of school records, including being the all-time hits leader. The senior said all the games they’ve played led to this district championship game.
“Our freshman year, we played in a district championship,” DeMint said. “It was very nerve-racking for us as freshmen. It feels great because I knew we had the team do it, and we had the ups and downs throughout the season.”
Kaden Benne was given the ball and pitched seven innings with four hits, four strikeouts, three walks and two earned runs. The senior said it feels great to have at least one more game in his high school career after dealing with the lofty assignment on the mound.
“The first inning was definitely nerve-racking,” Benne said. “You definitely feel the adrenaline. To settle in, get the job done and throw strikes. That’s all you had to do. I’ve got a good defense behind me.”
DeMint and Benne both agreed Mexico had the talent to beat Fulton and to win a district championship in previous years. When it came to this year, DeMint said having Benne pitch the whole game against Fulton and Brady Fox pitch a complete game in Monday’s 3-2 win over Winfield put Mexico in a good position for success. Other things feel into place.
“Last year’s team had a bunch of talent, but we just couldn’t put hits, innings and pitching together,” DeMint said. “I feel like we did this year.”
“We’re a lot more team-oriented this season,” Benne said. “We don’t have any egos. Everybody is playing together. We’re definitely all together on the baseball team as far as laying down bunts and doing what the team needs.”
One example of this is when Benne stepped up to the plate in the sixth inning with Fox on third base. Benne put down a bunt that allowed Fox to score, sacrificing himself for the 2-1 lead and supporting himself to move his record to 7-1. According to McCarty, Benne said he is tied for third in program history for pitching wins in a single season.
“The Fulton coach called time, so Kaden had the opportunity to come down to me (at third base),” McCarty said. “I was like, ‘Here’s the situation; You got first and third and nobody out here. I think you’re a hell of a bunter, and you can get it down.’ Sure enough, he said, ‘Alright, let’s do it.’”
The Bulldogs had down moments during the game as they have had over the last four years but overcame them. For instance, they didn’t score with the bases loaded and no outs in the fourth inning, and they then allowed Gage Tiffany to tie the game with a RBI single despite retiring the first two batters in the seventh inning. Mexico followed miscues with clutch plays.
“On the defensive side of things, we didn’t get too down,” McCarty said. “KB got out of some jams, and we made plays behind them. We had two errors, but KB and the team knows that we might make a mistake, but we have each other’s backs.”
Dickey was arguably the most ecstatic after picking up the game-winning hit, but he said all of the Bulldogs are pretty excited about ascending to the top.
“They hit the ball and scored, but we didn’t fold,” Dickey said. “We stayed consistent and came back and won.”
Mexico plays at the Class 4 District 8 champion -- either Moberly or Southern Boone -- on Tuesday. The District 8 champion will be decided on Friday.
