Lady Tigers beat Skyview, Vallivue

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers picked up wins over Skyview and Vallivue last week before dropping their first conference game of the season to Bishop Kelly.

Mtn. Home 14

Skyview 4

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers hit the ball well last Tuesday as they returned to the win column with a 14-4 six inning conference softball win over Skyview at Eastside Park in Mountain Home.

A seven-run third inning put the Lady Tigers up, 10-0, but Skyview pushed across three runs in the fifth to keep the game going. Mountain Home came back in the bottom of the sixth to score four runs to end it, 14-4, by the 10-run rule.

"It was a good win," said Lady Tiger softball coach Joy Memmelaar after the game. "We worked on some goals, and out of our four goals, we met three of them. One was to bat around in an inning and we did that, turn a double-play, and we did two, and to steal more than four bases, which we did. The one goal we didn't accomplish was to finish the game when it needed to be finished."

Kim Hamilton and Sammy Dodge both had three hits and two RBIs. Nickayla Skinner and Ashley Kipp each had two hits, Skinner had a double and three RBIs, Sheena Nelsen and Tiffany Smith also had hits, and Breann Christiansen had two RBIs. Skinner improved to 4-0 on the season, striking out five batters.

Mtn. Home 12

Vallivue 6

The Lady Tigers continued their hot hitting, scoring runs in every inning to down the Lady Falcons from Vallivue, 12-6, last Wednesday at Eastside Park.

Kim Hamilton and Sammy Dodge continued their hot hitting for Mountain Home, Hamilton had three hits including a triple and drove in two runs, Dodge had two hits including a home run and two RBIs. Sara Harlan had three hits, and Ashley Christiansen, Krista Gillaspy, Kelsey Hopkins, Ashley Kipp and Breann Christiansen all had two hits, Ashley had two RBIs, Gillaspy, Kipp, Hopkins and Breann, one. Nickayla Skinner had a double and an RBI, and Tiffany Smith also had a hit.

Sara Harlan picked up the win to improve to 2-1 on the season. She pitched five innings and Nickayla Skinner finished the last two.

"The girls played very well today," said Coach Memmelaar after the game. "They did exactly what we told them to do. They played a complete game and finished the game right when they should have. They hit well throughout the entire game and played very good defense."

Bishop Kelly 5

Mtn. Home 1

The Lady Tigers battled Bishop Kelly tough, but came up short in the run department, losing 5-1 to the Lady Knights Friday at Eastside Park in Mountain Home.

Bishop Kelly scored single runs in the first, third and sixth innings, and added two in the seventh. Mountain Home's lone run came in the fifth and was unearned.

"Defensively we played well." said Coach Memmelaar. "We didn't hit like we should have, and hitting is what's been our strong suit all along. We kind of were a little bit -- I don't know what to call it -- I'd hate to say 'not prepared,' because that's what we worked on, but the transition from practice to the game just didn't click for the girls. Defensively we played really well and did manage to keep them to a few runs. They (Bishop Kelly) got hits strategically placed. For the most part, we kept them off the bases and they managed to come through with a hit when they needed one."

The Lady Tigers managed just three hits off Bishop Kelly's Brittney Croner, who struck out 12. Kim Hamilton had two hits and Sammy Dodge had the other one.

The loss put the Lady Tigers at 6-2 on the season and 3-1 in conference play. Mountain Home hosted Glenns Ferry yesterday (Tuesday) and plays at Glenns Ferry tomorrow (Thursday).

"It'll be interesting," said Memmelaar of the Glenns Ferry games. "Hopefully the girls will come back from today's non-hitting and get on the ball. I know they (Glenns Ferry) have a pretty decent pitcher. As I recall last year, she was pretty good, she was a little wild, but has calmed down a little bit and is a little more accurate, and she's quite quick as I recall."