North Callaway softball achieves resounding Callaway Cup victory

MOKANE -- The away team won the scheduled regular season Callaway Cup softball game for the fourth straight season; unlike last season, it was a resounding result.

Playing an all-around solid game, the North Callaway Ladybirds beat the South Callaway Lady Bulldogs -- a district opponent --11-0 Tuesday at South Callaway's softball field.

It may sound simple, but North Callaway won since it put the ball in play more and performed better defensively and in the circle. The Ladybirds outhit the Lady Bulldogs 14-2 and committed just two errors to South Callaway's five.

South Callaway's first error, in the top of the second inning, was the turning point of the contest.

Leading up to the miscue, North Callaway's Faith Cash slapped a leadoff single to shallow right-center, and Olivia Knoepflein followed with a stand-up double deep down the right-field line.

With runners on second and third, Brianna Prosser came up to the plate and hit a fly ball to right-center, and South Callaway's right fielder tried catching it near the center fielder, but she dropped the ball. That allowed Cash and Knoepflein to score on what could've been the first out of the inning; instead, NC led 2-0.

"That's one thing I've noticed about this team, is that if they see it, they're gonna pounce on it," North Callaway softball coach Mariah McKee said. "They're gonna try to turn it towards us any way they can. So they're really good at really going for it and going for the throat. See any kind of no error like that, they're just gonna go for it."

After the Ladybirds plated their first two runs, the Lady Bulldogs forced North Callaway's No. 9 hitter to ground out to second for the first out of the second inning.

Up to bat came leadoff hitter Corynne Miller, who showed why she was in that spot, ripping a stand-up RBI triple to the gap in left-center. Meagan Schmidt also found an opening for North Callaway, driving in Miller on her single in a hole between second and right field.

Trailing 4-0, South Callaway starter McKenzie Laughlin regrouped, getting North Callaway No. 3 batter Kymorie Myers to ground out to second for the second out.

While first-team all-district pitcher Laughlin did force North Callaway's first-team all-district outfielder into an out, she couldn't do the same versus second-team all-district Ladybird Ella Slater. Slater smoked the ball past South Callaway's center fielder to the wall for an RBI double, capping North Callaway's five-run second.

Laughlin sent the next Ladybird packing, giving her the first punch-out of the contest for either team. But Laughlin didn't earn the run support the Ladybirds had.

North Callaway added more cushion to its lead in the fourth when it notched three runs to extend its lead to 8-0.

The Ladybirds started the fourth with back-to-back singles before Myers stroked the softball down the right-field line for a two-run stand-up triple.

Like the second inning, South Callaway did get the next batter out, but it let the frame unravel again. Luckily for SC, it only gave up one additional run this time.

Abigail Schmidt joined sister Meagan Schmidt in sending across a run, skying an RBI sacrifice fly to center field.

Laughlin, who threw a two-hit five-inning complete-game shutout victory Monday, looked like her usual self in the fifth and sixth innings for South Callaway. She allowed two singles and hit a batter in those frames, and the defense behind her turned a 6-3 double play for the first two outs of the fifth.

Back came North Callaway's bats in the seventh, however. South Callaway got the leadoff hitter out, and then the next three Ladybirds reached -- one on an error -- to load the bases for second-team all-district Ladybird Miller.

Miller took advantage of the pads being full, driving in a run on her sacrifice fly to center field. South Callaway attempted to get the runner out at third to complete a double play but couldn't do so in time.

Another Lady Bulldogs error benefitted the Ladybirds, as Meagan Schmidt reached on an error by the second baseman, and two runners advanced home.

Meagan Schmidt was involved in two run-scoring plays, but the two M's -- Miller and Myers -- were North Callaway's offensive leaders on the day.

Miller and Myers each had two hits and a game-high two RBI, while Knoepflein tallied a game-high three hits and reached in all four of her at-bats.

"It's really nice having them kind of in the meat of our lineup," McKee said. "When they're producing it, and everything's clicking, just it works really well because we kind of have speed at the top, small ball at the top. We kind of work in our big bats in the middle, so when they're all clicking, it kind of just runs real smooth."

South Callaway couldn't match the Ladybirds' offensive firepower, but the Lady Bulldogs did start their frames at the plate well.

Proving so, South Callaway had three leadoff hitters reach, two on singles and one on a walk. Additionally, the Lady Bulldogs' Maddie Althaus reached third with one out in the fourth, tapping the ball in front of NC's catcher, who made an overthrow to first.

"If you score a run here or there, and you go into the second winning 1-0 versus going in zip-zip, they had a little momentum going after they kind of shut us down," South Callaway softball coach Heath Lepper said. "We should have scored in two or three. But again, we're inexperienced players, just like we're inexperienced defensively and at the plate."

Ladybirds starter Lauren Speight ensured the Lady Bulldogs didn't capitalize on those chances, tossing a 90-pitch (60 strikes) complete-game shutout victory. Speight allowed no runs on two hits and two walks while striking out five in seven innings.

"She pitched great," McKee said. "She really started grooving there, and (Abigail Schmidt) did a great job at the plate kind of mixing things up on them because you got (Reagan) Arrowood and all them. And they can swing the bat. So, keeping them off balance, she did a great job, and I'm really proud of her."

Laughlin only allowed four earned runs and went the distance, but she took the loss for South Callaway. The junior struck out two, allowing 14 hits and no walks in seven innings.

When asked about Laughlin being fatigued from pitching the day before, Lepper agreed his ace was not 100%.

"I think she was (fatigued)," Lepper said. "She's not gonna admit it because she's a competitor. But I think fatigue was just a little bit. The difference between getting good teams out and good teams hitting you is two or three inches on the plate sometimes.

"She said -- she admitted -- she was catching more of the plate than she wanted to sometimes or was missing pretty wide. So, she'll get a little bit of rest, and I'm sure she'll as the year goes on, her outing will look more like last night versus tonight."

Laughlin played an immense role in South Callaway winning the first Callaway Cup regular season matchup last season, but Callaway was green this year.

"Very proud of them, they're really putting in the work," McKee said. "It was kind of roughskis on Monday, kind of dust off the rust because we haven't really got to be put together out there to get see what we have. So after a few innings, it finally started clicking, and everything's really starting to mesh now, and they're looking really good. So, I'm really excited about it."

Not only did the Ladybirds earn Callaway Cup bragging rights, but they also achieved their second victory against a district opponent in as many days.

"It's just really good to show up and show what we are," McKee said. "And being able to go into district seeding time and being able to have these wins and help us in our seeding."

North Callaway (2-0) will want to keep it up when it hosts Van-Far (0-0) in its Eastern Missouri Conference opener at 5 p.m. Thursday in Auxvasse. According to MSHSAA, the Ladybirds have won the last 18 meetings against the Lady Indians, dating back to 2010.

"Van-Far, they got a little scrap in them," McKee said. "We always gotta come ready. And I'm excited to start off the EMO and try to get it out there and work hard and try to get it, so it's all we can do."

Seeking its first home win this season, South Callaway (1-2) faces Hermann (0-1) at 4:30 p.m. Friday.

"They're right down the road," Lepper said. "If it's usually a big game, they travel well. We travel well, we go down there. There's a lot of support from both towns is more common, and more times than not, it's a pretty good ballgame."

Print Headline: North Callaway softball achieves resounding Callaway Cup victory

Copyright © 2023, Central Missouri Newspapers Inc.

All rights reserved.

This document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of News Tribune Publishing.

Material from the Associated Press is Copyright © 2023, Associated Press and may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. Neither these AP materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and noncommercial use. The AP will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing. All rights reserved.