Lady Tigers advance to first district title game

MOUNTAIN GROVE – The Houston High School softball team rallied from an early deficit to advance to the program’s first district championship game.

The Lady Tigers scored three times in the bottom of the fourth to erase a 3-1 deficit, then pushed across four runs in the sixth to break a 4-4 tie. The result was an 8-6 victory Thursday evening the the semifinals of the Class 2 District 3 tournament.

Houston (10-6) will face top-seeded Willow Springs (12-6) at 4:30 p.m. Friday in the district finals. The Lady Bears beat Mountain Grove 12-2 in five innings in Thursday’s other semifinal game.

Willow Springs has knocked the Lady Tigers out of districts the past seasons. Last year, the Lady Bears won 4-3 in the semifinals en route to the district title.

Houston lost its regular-season matchup with Willow Springs 6-0 last Thursday. All six of the Lady Bears’ runs were unearned.

Senior Kayla Kelley was 2-for-3 with two runs and a triple for the Lady Tigers, who are seeded second and received a first-round bye. Lizzy Swindell also tripled and knocked in two runs.

Kelley scattered five hits in the complete-game victory. She struck out one and walked one.

Kelley gave Houston a 1-0 lead in the second when she tripled and scored on Swindell’s groundout.

Gainesville (4-16) scored three times in the third – highlighted by Tali Rose’s two-run single – to go ahead 3-1.

Swindell had a RBI triple in the fourth to ignite a three-run rally. She scored when Kaylea Preheim walked and advanced to second, drawing the attention of pitcher Sunni Amyx. Preheim later scored on a wild pitch to put Houston ahead 4-3.

After Rose’s RBI triple pulled Gainesville even at 4-all, the Lady Tigers took a commanding lead with four sixth-inning runs. Two runners – Kelley and Preheim – scored on wild pitches as Amyx appeared to wear down. Two more HHS players – Dani Sears and Hailey Dodson – scored on throwing errors.

Gainesville scored a pair of unearned runs in the top of the seventh before Kelley got clean-up hitter Kiya Head to ground out to end the game.

GAINESVILLE (ab-r-h-bi): Strong c 4-1-0-0. Rose ss 4-2-2-3. Abraham lf 4-0-0-0. Head 1b 4-0-1-0. Cunningham cf 3-0-0-0. Britt 3-0-0-0. Brantingham rf 3-0-1-0. Goodman dh 2-1-0-0. Cockrum 2b 1-1-0-0. Jones 2b 2-1-0-0. Totals 30-6-5-3.

HOUSTON (ab-r-h-bi): Walker 2b 4-0-1-0. Woosley c 3-0-0-0. Franklin ss 3-1-1-0. Kelley p 3-2-2-0. Swindell 1b 3-1-1-2. Preheim 3b 2-2-0-0. Sears rf 2-1-0-0. Dodson cf 2-1-0-0. Harrison lf 3-0-1-0. Totals 25-8-6-2.

3B: Rose, Franklin, Kelley, Swindell. SB: Abraham 2, Preheim.

Wednesday’s scores

Mountain Grove 12, Liberty 11

Gainesville 10, Plato 0

Thursday’s scores

Willow Springs 12, Mountain Grove 2

Houston 8, Gainesville 6

Friday’s championship

(1) Willow Springs vs. (2) Houston, 4:30 p.m.

Watch the Lady Tigers’ semifinal win.