A year ago, Josy Eversmeyer spent her whole freshman season watching the Montgomery County softball team from the dugout while nursing an arm injury.

Now, after three weeks of the 2023 season, the sophomore is one of the Wildcats’ top infielders. Clopton found out why in an Eastern Missouri Conference game on Sept. 14 at Kiwanis Fields.

Eversmeyer was moved to shortstop against the Hawks and turned in a strong defensive performance, making seven putouts, including a diving catch to rob Clopton’s Jeaneya Bazan of a hit in the top of the sixth. Her effort helped the Wildcats pull off a 5-2 victory to match last year’s win total of nine.

“It’s awesome,” Eversmeyer said. “My batting hasn’t been the greatest here lately, so I’m happy to go out there and be able to put it out on the field.”

Eversmeyer played second base for most of the season before she was switched to shortstop in the contest against Clopton. Her fielding percentage increased to .868 after the solid effort against the Hawks.

“She played phenomenal,” MCHS coach Audra Heimer said. “I told her that morning that she was playing shortstop and she was pumped. She made every play. She did more than I could have asked for tonight.”
The Wildcats scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth to take a 4-1 lead they would not relinquish. Senior El Reagan had three hits and two runs scored, junior Aliviah Fischer had two hits and two RBIs and freshman Reese Hill finished with nine strikeouts at the pitcher’s circle.

“I think that was a good win,” Heimer said. “We were missing our starting catcher (Dylan Topel), so everyone was kind of moved around. I told the girls we always come back when other teams score. I told them we can score first every once in a while. But they kept fighting and kept working.”

MCHS improved to 9-3. The Wildcats had a six-game winning streak that was snapped in the loss to Louisiana in the semifinals of the Elsberry Tournament on Sept. 9.

“It’s so much fun to win, especially with a young team,” Heimer said. “This is how we should be playing in October. I’m really glad that we’re getting some big wins right now because they will prepare us for districts.”

Eversmeyer said she is thrilled with the way her team is playing this season. The Wildcats won the Monroe City Tournament, placed second in the Elsberry Tournament and have three wins in EMO play, surpassing last year’s mark of two.

“I feel like we have a really strong team this year,” Eversmeyer said. “We all like each other and we’re good at competing with each other. It makes it nice.”

Heimer said her team has to continue improving on its offense in order to finish with its second winning season in three years.

“The one thing we have to work on is hitting,” Heimer said. “That was one of our downfalls at Bowling Green. We have to be able to hit 1 through 9 and we have to be able to put the ball in play. The more we put the ball in play, the more we will make the other team make plays and be able to do the things they have to do.”

Eversmeyer is playing softball for the first time since seventh grade. She missed the last two years because of Tommy John surgery in her right arm. She injured her arm due to overuse of pitching in recreational and middle school softball.

“I’m trying to work my way back up to pitching,” Eversmeyer said. “Right now, it’s not there, but hopefully it can be back one day.”

Last fall, Eversmeyer had to watch the Wildcats reach the district championship game from the bench. She said she is happy to return to the field this fall.

“It was really tough,” Eversmeyer said. “Softball is my passion. This is what I wanted to do. This is what I want to end up doing. It was rough, but I’m happy to be back.”