The Fulton Lady Hornets softball team secured the North Central Missouri Conference championship in dramatic style.
Fulton junior shortstop Sydney Hedgpath hit a walk-off, solo home run with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning as the host Lady Hornets clinched the NCMC title with a 7-6 win over rival Mexico on Monday night.
Fulton - avenging a 2-1 loss at Mexico on Sept. 19 - ended the regular season at 18-8 overall and finished at 8-2 in the NCMC. The Lady Hornets were seemingly in control Monday night, building a 6-0 lead with two runs in the first and piling on four runs in the second.
The defending Class 3 state champion Lady Bulldogs, though, rallied with two runs in the top of the fourth, a run in the sixth and three in the seventh to tie the game at 6-all.
Senior pitcher Taylor Kettle and junior first baseman Paige Clines both grounded out to start Fulton's seventh. Hedgpath needed just one pitch to deliver the NCMC championship for the Lady Hornets, launching it over the fence in right for the stirring victory.
Hedgpath went 3-for-3 with four runs batted in and a run scored as Fulton collected 11 hits. Clines finished 2-for-4 with two doubles, two RBI and scored two runs, while Kettle was 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI.
Sophomore left fielder Kyela Macon went 3-for-3 with a run scored.
Kettle (6-5) logged the complete-game win, allowing six earned runs on eight hits. She struck out five and issued three walks.
The Lady Hornets are the No. 4 seed in the Class 3, District 9 Tournament at Ashland. Fulton squares off against No. 5 seed Capital City in the quarterfinals at 4 p.m. today.