Despite a heartbreaking loss to Elsberry in the district finals, the Montgomery County softball team turned in another historic season in 2024.
The Wildcats won a school-record 22 games, …
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Despite a heartbreaking loss to Elsberry in the district finals, the Montgomery County softball team turned in another historic season in 2024.
The Wildcats won a school-record 22 games, shattering last year’s mark of 18. They also won two tournament championships and had two players named to the all-state team.
MCHS won its first seven games en route to its second straight winning season. The Wildcats finished 22-7. The team also finished with an 8-2 mark in Eastern Missouri Conference play, good for second place behind Elsberry.
The Wildcats won their 20th game on Oct. 8 after edging Elsberry 3-2 in a home game at Kiwanis Field, making it the first time in program history MCHS reached the 20-win mark.
Two weeks later, the Wildcats lost 7-4 to the Indians in the Class 2, District 2 championship game, which was played at MCHS. It’s the second time in three years the Wildcats lost in the district title game.
Offense was one of the big keys in the Wildcats’ successful season. They scored 10 runs or more 10 times this season, including a season-high 17-run effort against Atlanta in a first-round game of the La Plata Tournament.
Six players hit over .300 this season. Aliviah Fischer, the Wildcats’ only senior, led the way with a .589 batting average, followed by sophomore Reese Hill at .561, sophomore Sam Turner at .438, junior Dylan Topel at .377, sophomore Anna Klekamp at .333 and sophomore Jillian Weekley at .330.
Hill led the Wildcats in home runs with 13, which broke a school record. She had a pair of two-run homer performances against Mark Twain and Clopton.
Turner missed the first 13 games due to an elbow injury but quickly recovered by going on a 10-game hitting streak. Klekamp had an eight-game hitting streak during the season. Both prepared for this fall by playing for the NEMO Hot Shots select softball team and helped the squad to a second-place finish at the USSSA Fast Pitch National Championships in Branson in July.
Topel began her junior season with a 10-game hitting streak. She had three-hit performances against Mark Twain and Wright City. Topel missed almost a month due to injury.
Weekley became a second-team all-EMO performer after hitting .330 with a home run and 15 RBIs and won six games on the mound, including a three-inning, no-hit effort against Wellsville-Middletown on Oct. 1.
Klekamp, Fischer and Hill joined Weekley on the all-conference team. The Wildcats tied North Callaway, Clopton and Elsberry for the most all-league selections with four.
Fischer, who plans to continue her softball career at Missouri Baptist University in 2026, wrapped her fourth and final season with the Wildcats. In her four years, she helped the Wildcats win 65 games and hit .510 (174 for 341) with 14 home runs. She ended her senior season with a 25-game hitting streak.
Fischer, who played third base for the Wildcats, was named first-team all-state infielder for the second year in a row.
Hill was also named to the all-state team for the second year in a row, earning first-team at-large player honors. At the plate, she had a pair of 13-game hitting streaks in the 2024 season. On the mound, she went 15-4 with a 2.31 earned run average and 194 strikeouts.
The other players on the varsity were juniors Skylar Bethmann, Hailey Meyer, Josy Eversmeyer and Gracie Cobb and freshmen Kenley Wessel, Sullee Falloon and Shannon Hall.
The Wildcats began their season on Sept. 3 with a 5-4 win over Hermann. Five days later, they came out on top in the Monroe City Tournament, going 3-0, including a 6-2 win over Canton in the finals. They tied last year’s win total of 18 after beating South Shelby 12-6 in the championship game of the La Plata Tournament on Oct. 5. MCHS had a 12-game winning streak that started in late September and ended with a loss to Fatima in its regular season on Oct. 14.
MCHS also competed in the Take the Lake Softball Tournament on Sept. 13-14 at Ballparks National in Macks Creek, located outside the Lake of the Ozarks. The Wildcats finished 1-3 in that event.
Audra Heimer wrapped up her 10th season as MCHS coach. She now has 143 victories in her tenure.
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