North Callaway softball’s perfect conference record slips through in 9-8 loss at Montgomery County

There were several moments North Callaway softball wishes happened differently.

North Callaway at Montgomery County Photo Gallery

The Ladybirds lost their first Eastern Missouri Conference game of the season after falling just short 9-8 on Thursday at Montgomery County, with the tying run on base. North Callaway allowed four unearned runs in the fifth inning and finished with five errors in what was its second defensive struggle in a week. 

Head coach Mariah McKee said there were moments that didn’t go North Callaway’s way. Aliviah Fischer’s home run that followed Reese Hill’s long ball in the sixth inning bounced off the fence and off the scoreboard to be ruled a home run, the Ladybirds (11-7, 4-1 EMO) had as runner thrown out at third base after two runs had crossed earlier in the seventh inning and the game ended with a check-swing strike-three call. Still, the fifth inning loomed over North Callaway’s heads and left the team looking up at a 4-0 Bowling Green in the conference standings.

“When you have five errors, that will do it to you,” McKee said. “We were doing a better job of it at the beginning of the year, but we have to come back around and get back to those roots now.”

North Callaway committed another five errors and allowed nine unearned runs on Monday to help Hallsville pull away 13-2. That game was on the road a day before the Ladybirds mounted an eight-run comeback in the seventh inning on Tuesday in California to win 10-3. McKee said this week has been part of 14 games away from North Callaway’s home field.

“It’s a road bug,” McKee said. “You play this many road games and it catches up. We’re traveling all the time. We still need to take care of the ball.”

The outfield was an area of the defense North Callaway didn’t show much weakness on Thursday and hasn’t for much of this year. Corynne Miller laid out in shallow center field for a catch that ended up saving a run to post a scoreless second inning.

Two Montgomery (11-3, 5-2 EMO) runners had reached base that inning thanks to defensive miscues, but McKee said the play of the outfield proved to be superb once again.

“I feel so good with the outfield I have out there,” McKee said. “They’re going to do whatever they can to get to a ball. This year, we’ve gotten several compliments. We really work on reading stuff off the bat. I try to hit them stuff off the bat every practice. (Miller’s) great and she’s vital to our core, and I think that showed (Thursday).” 

North Callaway was hitting the freshman pitcher Hill well after seeing her in some at-bats, McKee said. With this being a new arm to many of the Ladybirds, they didn’t score until the third inning when Kymorie Myers brought in two runs via a double.

Myers finished 3-for-4 with two RBI, a triple and a double, Miller went 1-for-2 with two RBI and two walks, and Faith Cash had two RBI. The offense gave North Callaway a 5-3 lead in the fifth inning prior to the struggles in the field.

“We do a pretty good job of going through the lineup in the first round, where we get a feeling for pitchers,” McKee said. “We hit the ball hard. It was at people, but we hit the ball hard. We’ve been facing a lot of fast pitching this week so just keeping our weight back and beating the ball square instead of lunging and getting out in front.”

McKee said she is confident the team will bounce back in the final weeks before districts as the Ladybirds still have much talent. North Callaway plays in Harrisburg today at 10 a.m. against the host Lady Bulldogs (5-9) and then at 11:30 a.m. against Moberly (6-7).

“We’ve still got two weeks left,” McKee said. “We’ll fix what we’ve got going on and just keep going.”

Ladybirds puts offense together late in 10-3 win at California

North Callaway’s offense was finally able to match the game pitched by Liv Knoepflein on Tuesday.

Knoepflein allowed six hits, two earned runs and one walk in seven innings while striking out three in a 10-3 victory for North Callaway at California (6-7). The Ladybirds (11-6) scored eight runs in the seventh inning, tying the game with a RBI double by Ella Slater, taking the lead for good with a two-RBI double by Bri Prosser and capping the inning with a three-RBI home run by Kymorie Myers.

“Her riseball was working really well (Tuesday),” head coach Mariah McKee said. “The hitting finally put it together. The three-run home run put the icing on the cake.”

The seventh inning featured six of North Callaway’s 12 hits, including RBI hits from Lia Bondurant and Corynne Miller to go with the others. 

Myers finished 3-for-4 with a double and the three-RBI home run, Slater was 3-for-4 with a double and two RBI, and Prosser finished 2-for-4 with two RBI.

North Callaway (4-0 EMO) put its undefeated Eastern Missouri Conference record on the line on Thursday at Montgomery County (10-3, 4-2 EMO) before playing Harrisburg (5-4) at 10 a.m. and Moberly (5-6) at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday in Harrisburg.

Ladybirds volleyball bounces back from loss with four-set win vs Chamois

Its second loss to conference foe Montgomery County was North Callaway’s most recent match until a victory on Tuesday night.

The Ladybirds defeated Chamois in four sets at home (25-19, 24-26, 25-14 and 25-15) almost a week after being swept 25-20, 25-11 and 25-17 by Eastern Missouri Conference and district opponent Montgomery County (5-2, 4-0 EMO) at home. 

Riley Blevins had a great defensive performance in each match, leading the team with 25 digs against Chamois (1-8) and 19 digs against Montgomery. The Ladybirds’ other leaders against Chamois included Natalie Shryock’s 11 kills and Jaden Smithee’s 14 assists and five service aces.

North Callaway (3-9) plays at Russellville (7-2) at 6 p.m. on Monday. The Ladybirds were swept by the Lady Indians at home to open the season.