The Houston High School softball team had one shutout in program history since it began playing a fall schedule in 2009.
The 2012 Lady Tigers did it twice in a span of five days.
Houston blanked Plato 16-0 in three innings last Thursday, then made it two in a row with a 12-0 win Tuesday against Mountain Grove.
HHS coach Brent Hall attributed the consecutive shutouts to the consistent pitching of senior Kayla Kelley. She walked two batters in the two victories.
“A lot of it is credited to Kayla throwing strikes,” Hall said.
The Lady Tigers’ defense has done the rest by making plays behind Kelley, who had two combined strikeouts against Plato and Mountain Grove.
“We don’t give up a lot of cheap runs, and our defense is pretty decent when they put the ball in play,” Hall said.
Junior Taylor Franklin was 2-for-3 with a double and five RBIs against Mountain Grove. Kaylea Preheim and Hailey Dodson had two hits apiece for the Lady Tigers (7-2, 1-1 South Central Association).
Kelley scattered four hits over five scoreless innings. After allowing a pair of two-out hits in the top of the fifth inning, she induced a pop-up to first base to end the game and preserve the shutout.
“She is throwing strikes this year,” Hall said. “It’s not anything I’ve done different with her. Last year, she got thrown in there and had to learn as she went. She has matured and is just more comfortable out there.”
On Thursday, Kelley, Autumn Walker, Olivia Woosley and Lizzy Swindell had three hits apiece in Houston’s romp of Plato.
Kelley allowed one hit and walked none.
Hall said he has warned his team to not become comfortable with its early success. Not only have two tournaments been canceled due to inclement weather, but Houston also faces its toughest competition at the end of the season.
“We made three or four mistakes (Tuesday) that will hurt us against better teams,” Hall said. “I tried to stress that to the girls.
“We will really see what our team is made of the next two weeks.”