Whitney Sillyman drove in six runs, including the go-ahead tallies in the top of the seventh inning, to lead the Houston Lady Tigers’ 14-7 come-from-behind victory Monday at Newburg.
Sillyman had a huge day offensively, going 3-for-4 with three runs scored and an inside-the-park home run. But her biggest swing came in the seventh. With Houston trailing, 7-6, Sillyman cleared the bases with a triple that put the Lady Tigers ahead for good.
“Whitney stepped up big and kind of lit a fire under the team,” Houston coach Boulder McKinney said.
Bethany Korte and Shelbi Moore had two hits apiece for Houston, which scored 12 of its 14 runs in the final three innings. Korte scored three times and knocked in three runs.
Korte started the Lady Tigers’ seventh-inning rally with a single. Stephanie Dukes walked and Amber Postlewait was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Sillyman, who emptied them with a triple.
Shelbi Moore singled home a run and later scored on a wild pitch to make it 11-7. Korte put the finishing touches on the comeback with a three-run inside-the-park homer.
“That seventh inning, we finally exploded and started stringing some hits together,” McKinney said. “We’ve been struggling at the plate this season. We got aggressive and it was contagious. When one person started hitting, everyone started hitting.”
Postlewait survived a shaky second inning for her second victory of the season. She allowed five of her seven earned runs in the second.
“It seems like she has one rough inning per game,” McKinney said. “But she works through it and from there calms down. She settled down and threw strikes, and the defense helped her out.”
The Lady Tigers trailed 5-2 before scoring four times in the fifth, highlighted by Sillyman’s three-run homer.
Newburg scored two times in the sixth to move three outs away from a victory. But Houston answered with an eight-run inning.
Dukes and Postlewait scored two times apiece for Houston, which got runs from eight different players. Seven Lady Tigers had at least one hit.
Houston 011 040 8 – 14 11
Newburg 050 002 0 – 7 5
HOUSTON (2-1) – Korte lf 4-3-2-3. Dukes cf 3-2-1-0. Postlewait p 2-2-0-0. Sillyman 3b 4-3-3-6. Moore ss 4-1-2-1. Tarrants 1b 4-0-1-0. Chernowsky c 4-1-1-0. Mosley rf 4-1-1-0. Burgess 2b 3-1-0-0. Totals 32-14-11-10.
3B: Sillyman. HR: Korte, Sillyman.
houston ip h r er bb so
Postlewait, W 7 5 7 7 6 2