The Houston Lady Tigers’ early advantage didn’t last long.
After scoring four first-inning runs, Houston’s lead quickly vanished as Plato pushed across six runs in the second and third innings en route to a 14-7 victory Tuesday afternoon at Carter Field.
The Lady Tigers (1-1) struggled to put the ball in play against Plato starter Caylen Cantrell, who was effectively wild. Cantrell walked eight – including five in Houston’s first-inning rally – and plunked four batters. But she only allowed two hits and struck out eight.
“We need to be more aggressive at the plate. Hopefully that will come around,” Houston coach Boulder McKinney said. “When we can start stringing some hits together, we should be all right.”
Whitney Sillyman and Lyndsay Tarrants drove in two runs apiece for the Lady Tigers (1-1). Leadoff hitter Bethany Korte scored twice and had six of Houston’s nine stolen bases.
Lady Tigers starter Amber Postlewait retired the first three batters she faced before finding trouble. Plato sent 10 batters to the plate during a six-run second inning and 11 in the six-run third.
Postlewait gave up 12 hits and 14 runs – 12 earned – in the complete game loss. She walked six and struck out one.
After Korte was hit by a pitch leading off the game, Stephanie Dukes and Postlewait walked to load the bases. Cantrell struck out the next two batters before issuing walks to Shelbi Moore and Hannah Pounds to force home two runs.
Postlewait scampered home on a wild pitch to make it 3-0, and Tarrants followed with a single off the shortstop’s glove for a 4-0 lead.
Tarrants had a RBI groundout in the third, Sillyman’s sacrifice fly scored Korte in the fourth and Paulette Chernowsky scored on Sillyman’s sixth-inning groundout.
“I was proud of the way our girls battled for the most part,” McKinney said. ” When we were down big late in the game, they continued to play.”
Tuesday’s Game
Plato 066 101 0 – 14 12 0
Houston 401 101 0 – 7 2 3
PLATO (ab-r-h-bi) – Wildrick 3b 5-2-1-3. Miller 2b 5-1-1-2. Vaughn ss 5-0-2-1. Cantrell p 5-1-2-1. Cobb c 3-2-0-0. Karson 1b 3-3-1-1. Cook lf 4-3-4-1. Peterson cf 3-1-1-3. Talbot rf 2-1-0-1. Totals 35-14-12-12.
HOUSTON (ab-r-h-bi) – Korte 1-2-1-0. Dukes cf 2-1-0-0. Postlewait p 2-1-0-0. Chernowsky c 2-1-0-0. Sillyman 3b 3-0-0-2. Moore ss 2-2-0-1. Pounds dp 3-0-0-1. Tarrants 1b 3-0-1-2. Mosley rf 4-0-0-0. Totals 26-7-2-6.
SB: Vaughn, Cantrell, Cook, Korte 6, Dukes, Postlewait, Tarrants. CS: Vaughn. SF: Sillyman.
plato ip h r er bb so
Cantrell, W 7 2 7 7 8 8
houston ip h r er bb so
Postlewait, L 7 12 14 12 6 1
HBP: by Cantrell (Korte, Postlewait, Chernowsky, Moore).