McDonald County's Madeline McCall and Webb City's Haidyn Berry locked up in a pitchers' duel for the second time this season in the championship game of the Missouri Class 4, District 6, Softball Championships on Oct. 16 at Monett High School.
And for the second time, Berry got the best of the Lady Mustangs, pitching a no-hitter to lead the Lady Cardinals to a 5-0 win to claim the district title.
The pair of the best pitchers in the state matched scoreless innings until Webb City broke through in the bottom of the sixth.
A pair of leadoff walks set up the Lady Cardinals for the big inning. Junior catcher Kaylyn Gilbert followed the walks with a three-run homer to break the scoreless tie. However, the second runner to cross the plate was called out for missing the plate, leaving Webb City with a 2-0 lead.
The Lady Cardinals never missed that run, adding three more runs on three walks, two hits and an error before Alexa Hopkins got the final out of the inning.
The five runs were more than enough for Berry, who beat the Lady Mustangs 1-0 earlier in the season in a matchup of the top two ranked teams in Class 4 in the state.
Berry struck out 16 batters in her no-hit effort. The only McDonald County base runners were Carlee Cooper, who reached on an error in the fourth, and McCall, who drew a two-out walk in the same inning.
But Berry struck out the next hitter to end the only Lady Mustang threat.
McCall allowed five hits through the first five innings, but the junior stranded six runners through five innings, striking out eight in those five innings, including six in the first two innings to keep the game scoreless.
"Webb is a great team," said coach Heath Alumbaugh. "Berry was able to hold our hitters at bay all day. We said all year that one game will never define our season and it absolutely does not. We saw tremendous growth from the beginning of the year to where we finished. Our seniors (Alexa Hopkins and Deorica Zamora) leave a great legacy to pass on to our younger players. We will be back to make another run."
McDonald County finishes the 2020 season with a 21-4 overall record, including a 7-1 mark in the Big 8 Conference.
Neosho
McDonald County advanced to the finals against Webb City with a 4-1 win over Neosho in the semifinals. McCall led the way, pitching a no-hitter of her own. The junior struck out 17, allowing only an unearned run.
The Lady Mustangs scored the only two runs they would need in the second inning. McCall reached on an error to start the rally. Reagan Myrick's attempt at a sacrifice bunt got past the pitcher for a hit instead, putting runners on first and second. With one out, Adasyn Leach singled to load the bases.
With two out, junior Mariana Salas got the key hit of the game, a solid single to center to drive in two runs.
McDonald County added a pair of insurance runs in the sixth on a triple by Neveah Dodson, a triple by McCall and RBI singles by Myrick and Leach.
Cooper, Dodson, Myrick and Salas had two hits each while McCall and Hopkins had one each to lead the offense.
Carl Junction
McDonald County escaped an upset bid by Carl Junction in the tournament's opening round.
The Lady Mustangs scored a run in the bottom of the sixth to break a 1-1 tie, and McCall struck out nine batters in three and two-thirds innings of relief to get the win.
Cooper led off the inning with a bunt hit. Cooper stole second before Katelyn Townsend's bunt hit was thrown away, allowing Cooper to score all the way from second.
Hopkins went the first three and a third innings, allowing a run on four hits.
Neosho's only run in the fourth tied the game, but McCall ended further damage by striking out the final two batters of the inning.
McDonald County's first run of the game came in the third. McCall tripled with one out and scored on Myrick's sacrifice fly.
Carl Junction's Saedra Allen held McDonald County to just five hits, including two by Cooper and one each by Townsend, Dodson and McCall.
