After winning district championships in 2022 and 2023 and earning at least a share of the South Central Association conference crown in three of the past five seasons, the Houston High School softball team embarks this week on a quest for more success.
But the task won’t be easy, especially considering that the Lady Tigers will be without the services of numerous key players who graduated last year.
“It’s going to be different for sure,” said HHS head coach Jim Moore. “We had eight seniors graduate, and all of them were pretty talented and contributed in their own way. But we’re excited; a lot of the girls we have this year have been waiting for their turn, and here it is.
“We’ll see what they can do.”
Moore is in his seventh season at the helm of HHS softball. Houston’s program currently includes a total of 16 players, including five upperclassmen: Senior Kelsey Pritchett and juniors Makinley Aaron, Lacey Cavaness, Sophia Crites and Katy Scheets. In turn, youth must play a significant role in any success the team has this year.
“We’ve had a pretty veteran team the last couple of years,” Moore said, “so it’s going to be a growing process. We try to improve every practice, and we’ll get that game experience in every game. We’ll try to be playing our best by the end of the year and be in the hunt for another district championship.
“That’s the plan.”
Sophomores who figure to see plenty of playing time include infielders Katy Evans, Lilly Kincaid and Ashley Gilbert, outfielder Natalie Clinton and catcher Gracyn McNiell.
Moore figures to use several players in the pitchers’ circle this season, including Pritchett, Aaron, Evans, Clinton and Kincaid.
“Those five will likely share the load,” Moore said. “We’ll see how that shakes out. We’ve got a couple of veteran girls who will probably get the ball in games where we know it’s going to be tough, and try to give the younger ones a chance to grow throughout the year. But our three sophomores are working hard; they want to be good pitchers and they’re really putting the time in. That helps take the load off of Kelsey and Makinley.
“And you can never have too much pitching.”
Last season, the Lady Tigers’ whacked a whopping 26 home runs, with eight players hitting 2 or more.
“That was fun,” Moore said. “We had power from the top of the lineup all the way to the bottom. We still have some pop; it’s not as much as what it was last year, so we’re going to have to play differently, and we know that.
“If someone makes a mistake pitching to us, we’re still capable of hitting the ball out of the park. But our objective is to try to put the ball in play and put as much pressure on the defense to make plays as possible, and once we’re on base, we’re going to have to move runners and try not to leave anybody on base. Last year, even with all the offensive power we had, we left way too many runners in scoring position. We have to do better at that.”
Moore said part of the process is avoiding fielding and baserunning mistakes.
“We have to understand what we’re going to do before the ball is hit to us,” he said, “and understand when to take the extra base and when not to. We’ve got to be aggressive without getting thrown out on the basepaths.”
The Lady Tigers hosted a preseason Jamboree with Plato and Mountain Grove on March 11. They begin the 2024 season this week with home games Tuesday against Steelville and Thursday against Gainesville, and will be in the field this Saturday at the Mountain Grove SCA Tournament.
Next week, Houston hosts Dora on Tuesday and begins the SCA portion of the schedule with a Thursday matchup against Salem, also at Carter Field.
“We’re going to be pretty young,” Moore said, “and we’ll have plenty of girls getting their first varsity experience and some others playing a lot more varsity innings than they have before. It’s a process, and we know it. It’s about gaining confidence and increasing our softball IQ in every game.
“But I like our team; our work ethic is very good and our attitudes are really good. I’m looking forward to the challenge, and I hope our girls continue to embrace that.”
2024 HHS SOFTBALL ROSTER
Seniors:
#18 Kelsey Pritchett, P, 1B
Juniors:
#21 Makinley Aaron SS, 3B, P
#22 Lacey Cavaness, CF
#24 Sophia Crites, SS
#10 Katy Scheets, C, OF, 3B
Sophomores:
#19 Katy Evans, 2B, OF, P
#30 Gracyn McNiell, C
#15 Natalie Clinton, P, OF
#33 Lilly Kincaid, P, 3B
#40 Ashley Gilbert, 1B
Annabelle Westbrook
Freshmen:
Zoey Terry
Jaden Rhoades
Serenity Malota
Ashley Puhrmann
Shiloh Vasseur
Head Coach: Jim Moore
Assistant Coaches: Tory Wade, Jim Kulakowski
2024 HHS SOFTBALL SCHEDULE
March 19: Steelville, 4:30 p.m. (V)
March 22: Gainesville, 4:30 p.m. (V, JV)
March 23: Mountain Grove SCA Tournament, TBA (V)
March 26: Dora, 4:30 p.m. (V, JV)
March 28: Salem: 4:30 p.m. (V, JV)
March 29: Summersville, 4:30 p.m. (V)
April 1: Mountain Grove, 4:30 p.m. (V, JV)
April 2: Mansfield, 4:30 p.m. (V, JV)
April 4: Thayer, 4:30 p.m. (V, JV)
April 10: Dixon, 4:30 p.m. (V, JV)
April 11: Cabool, 4:30 p.m. (V, JV)
April 13: Conway Tournament, TBA (V)
April 15: Ava, 4:30 p.m. (V, JV)
April 16: Eminence, 4 p.m. (V)
April 18: Willow Springs, 4:30 p.m. (V, JV)
April 22: Alton, 4:30 p.m. (V)
April 23: Liberty, 4:30 p.m. (V, JV)
April 25: Plato, 4:30 p.m. (V, JV)
April 26: Licking, 5 p.m. (V, JV)
April 29: Bourbon, 4 p.m. (V)
*Home games in bold
