Centralia couldn't beat Oak Grove for the Class 3 softball state title two years ago, but that was two years ago.
On Saturday, No. 3 Centralia beat No. 2 Oak Grove 4-0 in the Class 3 state championship game at Killian Softball Complex in Springfield for its first state title since 2016. Mizzou commit Jaylynn Brown secured Centralia's 21st shutout of the season and outdueled North Carolina commit Molly Munson in a rematch from two years ago. Brown struck out 13, walked two and allowed no hits after striking out 15 and allowing one run on three hits and three walks to Notre Dame (Cape Girardeau) on Friday. Brown finishes her career with Centralia (31-6) at 1,101 strikeouts to sit at sixth all-time in Missouri high school softball history. Karli Andersen had two RBIs, and Anna Miller had one RBI the opposite way down the right field line against Munson, who finished with six innings of seven strikeouts, seven hits, and four earned runs for Oak Grove (29-6).
"We had to have more of an attack mentality," head coach Liz Bostick said. "You're going to have to get in the box, scoot up in the box and she's going to throw you strikes. You're going to have to take that outside pitch to the right side of the field. You're not going to get huge hits, so how are we going to manufacture runs?"
Blakely VanDyke had a leaping catch in center field to save a run. On Friday, she hit a bases-clearing triple to break a tie at in the sixth inning of Centralia's 5-1 win over Notre Dame (Cape Girardeau) (21-10-1).
In all six postseason games for Centralia, a different player had the game-winning RBI in each game: Raleigh Dutton against Mexico, Ealynne Bostick against Mexico, Brown against Chillicothe, Claire Page against Winfield, VanDyke against Notre Dame (Cape Girardeau) and Miller against Oak Grove. Centralia also didn't have an error in the postseason until committing two against Oak Grove, which was its first game with an error since Oct. 8 against Palmyra.
"There isn't an ego on this team," Bostick said. "We put our hands in the circle because we're together and we're a family. There's no one person that can do this alone."
Centralia set a new school record with 31 wins, which was the most by any school this season and one more than Class 5 runner-up Troy Buchanan. The previous Centralia record was 29 wins by the 2016 state championship team.
Read the full story in the Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, edition of the Mexico Ledger.
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