Cassidy fans 14 as Ladybirds down Helias

Danielle Cassidy's dominant stuff guided North Callaway to a third win in a row.

The senior starter struck out 14 - including 11 of the first 12 she faced - in a complete-game outing as the Ladybirds defeated the Helias Lady Crusaders 4-2 on Monday.

North Callaway (7-1) tallied a run in the bottom of the first, then finished its scoring with three in the third. The Lady Crusaders (4-7) scored two in the seventh.

Cassidy (4-1) scattered two hits and walked two as she had a perfect game through five innings and a no-hitter after six.

Junior Karlie Popp singled in senior shortstop Elaine Brinker from second with one in the first for the game's first run. Cassidy roped a two-run double with one out in the third to push the Ladybirds to a 3-0 lead. Freshman second baseman Meagan Talley singled in Cassidy to push North Callaway's edge to four runs.

Talley was 2-for-2, senior catcher Kaysey Huddleston was 2-for-2 with a run scored and Cassidy finished 1-for-3 as North Callaway collected nine hits.

This was the first meeting in school history between the two teams.

"It's good to play somebody you don't see very often," Ladybirds head coach Brandi Thomsen said.

North Callaway's JV team improved to 5-1 with a 13-4 victory.

The Ladybirds play will resume an Eastern Missouri Conference game against Clopton at approximately 6:30 p.m. tonight in Laddonia. The game - which stopped due to rain with North Callaway leading 2-0 in the top of the fourth on Sept. 9 - will play following a conference game between Clopton and Community R-VI.