Every play and decision loomed large for Mexico on Monday at home.

The Lady Bulldogs fell short to North Central Missouri Conference foe Kirksville 4-3 to snap their season-high seven-game winning streak. Mexico left nine runners on base, outhitting Kirksville 9-7, and committed five errors to allow two unearned runs.

Abby Bellamy hit her seventh home run of the season and finished 2-for-3, Lexie Willer was 2-for-4 with an RBI, Brooke Teel went 3-for-3 and Eboni Mayfield allowed four runs (two earned) and struck out four in seven innings.

Head coach Curt Riley said mistakes were made, but the biggest mistake could be attributed to him. In the sixth inning, Kirksville (10-6, 4-2 NCMC) had just taken a 3-2 lead in the top half of the inning, but Karlee Sefrit advanced to second base after her single in the bottom half. Teel had two bunt singles already in the game and made it three, convincing Riley to send Sefrit home only for the catcher Mallory Lymer to slap the tag on a head-first sliding Sefrit to end the inning.

“I’m going to take the whole blame for this,” Riley said. “I shouldn’t have sent her home. That was huge on my part, and I’m taking the blame for this loss. My kids worked way too hard to fight and get back in the ballgame, and they deserve better from me. I cost them a win, and that’s disappointing for me and it’s going to eat at me for a while.”

Riley said Mexico is in a better state in its second meeting with Kirksville than the first one as the Lady Bulldogs lost 12-4 earlier in the month. There were the few errors and some bloop hits by the Lady Tigers this time but still thinks Mexico maintained its quality of play from the weekend.

Mexico won the Versailles/California Turf War Tournament after winning three games on Saturday, mounting comebacks from early deficits in its final two games against Versailles and California. Riley said the Lady Bulldogs on the recent streak have been focused and have not been out of any games.

“We are able to fight back — we’ve been doing that quite a bit,” Riley said. “We had a couple games in the tournament where we were down — we scored five runs Saturday against Versailles to win the game. We figure out how many outs we got to play with. We were able to fight back and get back into the game because we approached it that way.”

Mexico would run out of outs Monday eventually as the Lady Bulldogs took a 1-0 first-inning when Jo Thurman scored on a passed ball not long after she was walked. After a bunt single and error in the third inning, Kirksville tied the game and Olivia Williams — who had seven RBI in the first meeting — gave the Lady Tigers the 2-1 lead with a single.

There were multiple moments Mexico did strand multiple runners on base but also various times a Lady Bulldog laced a ball into a fielder’s glove. Before Williams gave Kirksville a lead in the third, Mexico had two runners in scoring position for Jo Thurman, but the ball screaming two-RBI double down the left field line was instead a third out caught by third baseman Adi Baumgartner. The next inning, Thurman had another loud out with two runners on as the ball died at the center field fence for out No. 3.

“We hit the ball hard, and we hit it right at people,” Riley said. “Over the weekend, that didn’t really happen. (Kirksville pitcher Brianna Elsea) was throwing strikes, and she was deceptively slow. We’ve seen every pitcher there is, and we made some adjustments tonight.”

Bellamy blasted a pitch past the center field fence to tie the game at 2 in the fifth inning. Mexico was unable to hold Kirksville the next inning after an RBI groundout was set up by an error. Right fielder Maddy Feger threw out a runner in the sixth inning by a mile, but the Lady Tigers added that insurance in the seventh inning thanks to a single by Jordan Meng.

Kierstan Epperson had the chance to be the hero for the second straight week — after walking off Moberly on Sept. 20 — with two runners on with two outs in the seventh inning but grounded out to end the game.

“Tonight, we did the same thing — we just keep fighting, we keep playing hard, we keep working,” Riley said. “This is a game we should’ve won. My kids earned it and they should’ve won, and it’s on me.”

Mexico wins Turf War tournament

The balls were leaving the yard and then Mexico left as champions.

The Lady Bulldogs launched six home runs in three games Saturday to win the Versailles-California Turf War Tournament, defeating St. Elizabeth 7-4, Versailles 8-6 and California 12-6.

In three games, Abby Bellamy hit .600 while driving in eight runs and hitting two home runs to run her team-high total to six, Jo Thurman finished at .500 with seven RBI and two home runs, and Kierstan Epperson hit .500 with three RBI and her first long ball of the season. Emma Cunningham and Eboni Mayfield combined for a 3.15 ERA.

Mexico had all the runs it needed in its first game against St. Elizabeth after scoring three runs in the fifth inning. Lexie Willer drove in the winning run on a sacrifice fly and Hannah Loyd crushed her fifth home run of the year. Cunningham allowed three earned runs in seven innings.

The Lady Bulldogs were down 5-3 after five innings against Versailles but had a five-run sixth inning that was sparked by a Thurman two-RBI single with two outs. Run-scoring hits from Willer and Bellamy followed. Mayfield allowed four earned runs in six innings.

Mexico gave itself plenty of insurance with a five-run fifth inning in the championship game against California. Thurman hit her first of two home runs during the game to give Mexico a 5-3 lead before Bellamy followed soon after with an RBI triple. Loyd scored the winning run on a steal of home.

Mexico (15-9, 4-3 NCMC) visits Hannibal (0-18, 0-6 NCMC) on Wednesday after defeating the Lady Pirates 12-0 earlier this season.

Football

First half sinks Bulldogs in 49-8 loss at state-ranked Hannibal

Mexico had a tough challenge in traveling to Class 4 No. 9 Hannibal on Friday, but the first half didn’t make it any easier.

Hannibal scored all of its points in the first half of a decisive 49-8 loss for Mexico as the Bulldogs allowed three touchdowns by Markahl Humphrey and three from Aneyas Williams, who broke the school career touchdown record with his 91st score.

Mexico couldn’t stop Hannibal’s run as the Pirates rushed for 274 yards on 42 carries — led by Humprey’s 130 yards on 17 carries and Williams’ 121 yards on 12 carries. The Bulldogs, on the other hand, had 61 rushing yards on 22 carries, led by Andrew Runge’s 29 yards on six carries.

Head coach Steve Haag said the first half didn’t leave Mexico in a good competitive position as the many missed tackles, missed assignments and lack of a “competitive bone” in their body led to the terrible start against a Hannibal offensive line “took control.”

“That was probably the worst half in my nine years that we played,” Haag said. “They’re a good football team – not to take anything away from them. We’re playing on our heels all night.”

Haag said it is a simple solution for Mexico if it hopes to rebound from that first half. The Bulldogs need to “get back to work.”

“We got to put in the time, and when the ball’s snapped on Friday nights, we've got to be ready to compete," Haag said. "Losing’s one thing, but when you lose and don’t really compete, that’s the bothersome part about it. I like our team, I like our guys and I believe in our players, but it’s just not typical Mexico football tonight.”

Haag said Mexico was able to move the ball more once Hannibal cooled off with the blitzing and its option was effective. Runge ran in a touchdown from 22 yards out with six minutes left in the game.

From now on, Haag said Mexico should be doing those things well in the first half, or “when the fire’s the hottest,”

Mexico (2-3, 1-1 NCMC) looks to be ready for the latest edition of the 54 Bowl as it hosts North Central Missouri Conference rival and district foe Fulton (0-5, 0-2 NCMC), who lost 28-14 at home against Moberly in Week 5.

Cross country

Mexico’s Peuster, Ramsey finish in top 40 at Gans Creek Classic 

There were no medalists for Mexico on Saturday at the Gans Creek Classic but solid performances.

Thomas Peuster finished 34th out of 302 runners in the boys blue division, and Maggie Ramsey was 39th out of 245 runners in the girls blue division. Mexico had four girls and two boys in the top 100.

Peuster finished with a time of 17:32.10, and Guy Fairchild had a 93rd-place time of 18:32.20. For the girls, Ramsey had a time of 22:04.00, Henneberry was close behind in 44th place with a time of 22:08.50, Sidney Turlington was 73rd with a time of 23:04.70 and Viviana Benjamin ran to a 76th-place time of 23:07.00.

The girls finished ninth out of 30 schools in the blue division, and the boys were 23rd out of 37 schools.

Boys soccer

Bulldogs finish second at Moberly Invitational

Mexico finished the weekend with a winning record. 

The Bulldogs finished its run in the Moberly Invitational with a record of 2-1 on Saturday, taking second in the red division. Mexico lost a “cold, wet” 3-1 game to Hickman’s junior varsity on Friday and, then on Saturday, defeated Moberly’s junior varsity 7-0 and Boonville 2-1. Gage Walker finished the tournament with three goals — two in the Moberly game and one against Hickman — and Fernando Guzman also had three — one against Moberly and both goals against Boonville.

Among the others that scored goals against Moberly was James Branson, Kalvin Smith, Jacob Hernandez and Brendon McKeown. Head coach William Gleeson said the junior varsity players that made the trip had much playing time during the Moberly game.

Hickman was crowned the red division champion at the end, Smith-Cotton was the blue division champion and Missouri Military Academy took home the white division title. 

Mexico (4-6) hosted Fatima (7-4) on Monday before it traveled to district foe Southern Boone (5-7-1) on Tuesday. The Bulldogs go to Missouri Military Academy to face the Colonels (7-2-1) in a crosstown matchup. 

Mexico jumps ahead, falls behind fast in 7-4 loss to Fatima

Early on, Mexico had a 2-0 lead that disappeared before the halftime horn sounded.

Fernando Guzman and Gage Walker continued their hot weekends at the Moberly Invitational by giving the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead prior to Mexico eventually losing 7-4.

Fatima took a 3-2 lead with 12 minutes left in the first half and scored two more unanwered goals. James Branson netted two goals in the second half, with the first one happening after the Comets' fifth goal.

Blake Gentges scored two of Fatima's first three goals, including a header and the go-ahead goal before halftime. The winning fifth goal was scored by Ryan Kesel six minutes into the second half, giving him two in the game.

Volleyball

Mexico swept by Boonville at home

The Lady Bulldogs have enjoyed being on the winning sides of sweeps in the previous two games.

This wasn't the case Monday night at home as Mexico lost in three sets to Boonville (25-21, 25-23 and 25-14).  The Lady Bulldogs were coming off sweeping victories at North Central Missouri Conference foe Kirksville and at home against district  opponent Bowling Green.

Against Boonville, Emily Moppin led Mexico with 13 kills followed by eight from Jessica Stephens. Stephens also had 18 digs to match Ali Walotka's total, which still trailed behind Tessa Haefling's 22 digs.  Ally Wilson led with four services aces and was second in assists at 11, behind only Lizzie Joiner's 13.

Mexico (4-5) travels to Montgomery County (6-6-1) on Thursday.

Girls tennis

Lady Bulldogs win third straight, defeat Boonville 7-2

Mexico had a couple losses Thursday at Boonville but were dominant for the most part.

The Lady Bulldogs won 7-2, dropping both No. 1 matches but winning the other matches by a 56-4 margin. Estrella Lopez, Jocelyn Garcia, Lani Blair and Messiah Simpson each picked two victories.

Lopez and Blair swept No. 2 and No. 5 singles matches 8-0, respectively, prior to Blair staying perfect with doubles partner Simpson in the No. 3 game.

Katie Gooch and her partner Jyllian Whitworth lost the No. 1 doubles match 8-3, with reigning Boonville state qualifier Emma Neidig being involved and defeating Gooch in the No. 1 singles match.