Trailing 7-3 after 6 innings, the Houston High School softball team scored 4 runs with 2 outs in the top of the seventh inning and went on to beat Willow Springs 9-8 in 8 innings in a South Central Association conference road game on Tuesday.
The huge rally in the seventh frame was capped off by a clutch 2-run double by freshman Ava Koch. Then in the top of the eighth, senior Katy Scheets put the Lady Tigers ahead 9-7 with a 2-run single to right field.
The host Lady Bears narrowed the gap with a run in the bottom of the eighth, but with junior Lilly Kincaid in the pitcher’s circle, Houston held on and Scheets caught a fly ball in left field for the final out.
The Lady Tigers took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning when senior Lacey Cavaness smacked a lead-off triple to right field and scored on a single to right by Makinley Aaron.
But the Lady Bears scored 4 runs in the bottom of the frame and added 2 more in the fifth inning to build a 6-2 lead at that point.
Houston finished the game with 12 hits, while Willow Springs had 11 (including 9 singles).
Cavaness got aboard in all five of her trips to the plate, going 4-for-4 with a triple, a double, a walk, an RBI and 2 runs scored. Junior Katy Evans went 3-for-4 with a triple, an RBI and 2 runs.
Six different players each stole 1 base for Houston. Meanwhile, the Lady Bears had no steals, as they were hesitant to run on the big arm of Houston junior catcher Gracyn McNiell.
Koch pitched the first 4 innings and allowed 4 earned runs on 6 hits, while striking out 4 and walking 3. Head coach Jim Moore then gave the ball to Kincaid, who went the rest of the way and gave up 2 earned runs, allowing 5 hits and issuing 1 walk.
The Lady Bears (11-7, 2-3 SCA) came into the contest at No. 9 in the latest Class 2 state rankings.
The Lady Tigers (11-7, 3-2 SCA) head to Ava on Thursday for another game with major postseason implications, as Ava’s Lady Bears (10-3, 4-1 SCA) jockey for seeding in the Class 2 District 4 Tournament at Mountain Grove, along with Houston, Willow, Thayer, Seymour, Liberty and Cabool.