Mount Vernon claims state championship with shutout victory
May 23—Mount Vernon softball and head coach Matt Schubert won their second state title Tuesday afternoon at Killian Softball Complex in Springfield with a 6-0 win over West County.
"It's pretty rewarding for the season of work we put in," Schubert said.
The Mountaineers completed 2023 with a state championship to go along with a 37-1 season.
Mount Vernon was able to claim the victory with four runs in the bottom of the first inning. All of the damage was done during a two-out rally as well. Schubert says it all began with the first two batters working long at-bats.
Then, with two outs, senior Ally Schubert drew a walk. A double drove her in. The next batter was hit by a pitch. A triple drove both of them in, and a single scored the fourth run in the opening inning.
That set up the shutout victory for the Mountaineers and Harley Daniels in the circle.
"That put a lot of pressure on (West County) and took a lot of pressure off us," Schubert said. "Our girls were able to relax and play pretty loose the rest of the way."
Junior Payge Evans set a state record Tuesday with her hit in the bottom of the sixth inning. That hit gave her 76 on the season to set a Missouri record for most hits in a single season.
This win means a little more to coach Schubert than just a positive mark on his coaching resume.
"For me, it means a great deal," Schubert said. "I have two of my three daughters on the team, and the third one served as our statistician when she wasn't playing herself. Being around them while having the success we did made me proud, not only as a coach, but more so as a dad.
"That goes out to the larger group. Because they're the same age as my kids, I've been coaching these kids since they were in T-ball. We've done a lot together. We've went to a lot of tournaments. To see all of the work they've put in come to fruition ... it was a great accomplishment."
Their lone loss came two months ago on March 22 in the championship of their home tournament against Diamond. The Wildcats won that game 8-2. Mount Vernon was 8-1 at that point and went on to win their final 29 games.
The team cruised through the state tournament with wins of 13-3 over Sparta, 13-2 over Fair Grove and the 6-0 win in the championship.
The Mountaineers saw closer games in the district tournament with final scores of 3-1 over Pierce City and 7-6 Diamond in the Class 2 District 6 championship.
"I think our schedule the whole year — I think we played upwards of 19 or 20 state-ranked teams on our schedule," Schubert said of being prepared for the state tournament. "The tough schedule day in and day out prepared us for these games, including districts.
"Our district was the strongest one in the state — I think, without a doubt. I think Diamond could have made a good run. It's unfortunate for them that Lauren (Turner) wasn't able to pitch (in district tournament). That helped us out a little bit. There were other teams like Sarcoxie, College Heights and Pierce City that could have made good runs."
For a program that Schubert said began in 2013, Mount Vernon has already reached the Final Four of the state tournament four times in 11 seasons with Schubert at the helm for each of them. It did so in 2014, 2016, 2019 and now 2023. The team finished fourth in '14 and '19 while winning state in '16 and this year.
This was Schubert's first trip to state with his daughter in high school. He noted that some key plays of hers down the stretch of this season will be memorable, including her two-out walk to continue the big first inning.
