The Houston softball team cruised to a home victory Monday despite continuing to play shorthanded.
Kameron Hall drove home a pair of runs and Taylor Chipps and Madison Lawson had two hits apiece as the Lady Tigers downed Newburg 10-0 in five innings on Carter Field.
HHS (7-7) played its fourth consecutive game without No. 2 hitter and starting shortstop Kaitlyn Root, who suffered a concussion on Sept. 9. Root must be symptom free for five days before returning, according to rules set by the Missouri High School Activities Association.
The Lady Tigers are 2-2 without Root, but head coach Brent Hall said the team is struggling.
“There are a lot of confidence issues at the field and the plate. It might be a combination of not doing well at the plate makes you not do well in the field, or vice versa,” Hall said.
“To their defense, we’re scrambling around with Kaitlyn being hurt. But you can’t make excuses. Hopefully one good at-bat or play will change the confidence issues.”
Houston junior Emily Roberts worked around three errors in the complete-game shutout. She allowed five hits and struck out five.
“We feed off how she does,” Hall said.
HHS broke the game open with a five-run second inning. Chipps and Lawson had back-to-back singles in front of Kameron Hall’s two-run hit.
“We won, but we could have played better,” Brent Hall said. “We had a couple errors and missed some signs. Those are things you can’t do against a good team.”
On Friday, Kameron Hall and Shelby Ozier had two hits apiece in a 7-6 loss at Mansfield.
The Lady Tigers trailed 6-1 before pulling even in the top of the sixth. Mansfield scored in the bottom of the seventh to win the game.