Based on June 5’s summer opening games, the North Callaway softball offense will be dangerous again.

North Callaway Summer Softball Photo Gallery

Coming off a season the Ladybirds scored 7.4 runs per game, they won two out of three scrimmage games at Westran High School in Huntsville. North Callaway defeated Harrisburg 13-3 and then New Franklin 11-4 before losing its final game of the day 5-2 against Smith-Cotton.

Head coach Mariah McKee said it was a great start for North Callaway’s first game action this year and considering that several starters weren’t present for all of the games. 

“We’ve got some youngins here, and we played some people in some different spots,” McKee said. “People stepped up and played spots that they’re not used to playing. We’re just trying to see where people can mesh, where we can put people and options we can have going into the season.”

Ella Slater and Kymorie Myers each had four RBI against Harrisburg while finishing 3-for-3 and 2-for-3, respectively, and Abigail Schmidt was 2-for-2 with three RBI. Slater had a triple and double and then recorded a RBI against New Franklin, which dealt with three-RBI games from Myers and Lauren Speight, and two RBI against Smith-Cotton. 

“We put the ball in play a lot, we moved runners, and for the most part, were smart on the basepaths,” McKee said. “We made stuff happen, and I’m very happy about the first day.”

McKee said she liked how her pitchers threw and catchers performed in each of the three games. Olivia Knoepflein struck out five and allowed on earned run on three hits and two walks against Harrisburg, Speight struck out seven and allowed two earned runs on six hits and three walks in seven innings against New Franklin, and Megan Schmidt struck out 11 and allowed on earned run in four innings against Smith-Cotton, where she trailed 2-0 before a big fourth inning by Smith-Cotton.

North Callaway played scrimmage games on Tuesday in Centralia, winning all four games. It defeated Van-Far 8-2, Brookfield 5-4, Boonville 11-1 and Bowling Green 11-8. Megan Schmidt was 3-for-3 with a RBI and Speight struck out five in four innings against Van-Far, Jocelyn Siegel hit a two-RBI home run and Knoepflein struck out five in four innings against Brookfield, Megan Schmidt was 2-for-3 with two RBI and a home run and struck out eight in four innings against Boonville, and Myers was 2-for-3 with a two-RBI home run and Slater had two RBI against Bowling Green. 

The Ladybirds have another Centralia camp in July before wrapping up July with its three-day camp.