High school softball: Kirksville 8, Fulton 3

The Lady Hornets committed four errors in suffering their first North Central Missouri Conference loss of the season to the Lady Tigers on Thursday night at the high school athletic complex.

Kirksville opened up a 4-0 advantage by scoring two runs apiece in the top of the first and second innings. Fulton (7-4, 2-1 NCMC) trimmed that deficit in half with two runs in its half of the second on an RBI double by senior left fielder Kayla Neal and an RBI single from junior designated hitter Elaina Gray.

The Lady Tigers, though, took control by adding two runs apiece in the third and fourth to widen their lead to 8-2.

The Lady Hornets tacked on their other run in the seventh on senior first baseman Paige Clines' RBI single.

Neal finished 3-for-4 with two doubles and a run scored as Fulton out-hit Kirksville 12-9. Junior right fielder Rylee Caswell was 2-for-4 and scored a run, while Clines also went 2-for-4.

Fulton senior starter Hayden Echelmeier gave up eight runs - only four earned - on seven hits over four innings in taking the loss. Echelmeier (2-3) struck out one and walked one.

"Kirksville has a solid team," Lady Hornets head coach Tim Echelmeier said. "We have to get better at moving runners and finding a way to score.

"We had hits to lead off six of the seven innings, three of them doubles, but only scored in two of them. We out-hit them, but failed to get the runs across."

Fulton remains at home to square off against Blair Oaks at 5 p.m. Monday.