Lady Tigers remain without win after losses to B.K., Middleton

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers dropped conference games to Bishop Kelly and Middleton last week.

Bishop Kelly 21,

Mountain Home 0

(Five innings)

A 17-run first inning by Bishop Kelly did Mountain Home in last Tuesday as they lost to the Lady Knights, 21-0, at Bishop Kelly in SIC 4A softball.

Taylor Reed had Mountain Home's only hit in the game. McKenna Lewis suffered the loss, although just three of Bishop Kelly's runs were earned due to 11 Mountain Home errors.

"This was not a game to be proud of," said Mountain Home girls softball coach Ron Nicolosi after the game. "We were not prepared to play, and the eight errors in the first inning proved that. I believe that our errors matched their hits.

"We have to put a performance like this behind us and keep working hard to improve," the coach added. "It's always darkest before the light, and after today, I believe the light is coming."

Middleton 6, Mountain Home 4

The Lady Tigers looked nearly 100 percent better Thursday when they hosted Middleton in conference ball at Memmelaar Field in Mountain Home. But a three-run fifth inning by the Lady Vikings wiped out a 3-2 Mountain Home lead as Middleton prevailed, 6-4.

Ashten Harrigan, Breanna Tindall and Paris Mederios each had two hits to lead the Lady Tigers. Harrigan had a triple and RBI, Tindall had a doubled and scored two runs. Ryan Floyd also tripled, and CJ Bish had an RBI.

McKenna Lewis suffered the loss, giving up five runs on five hits while striking out five batters in five innings of work. Ryan Floyd pitched the final two innings, giving up a run and three hits.

"This, by far, is the best performance of the year," Coach Nicolosi said. "So many good things happened in this game. The girls actually turned a 4-6-3 double play.

Anyone who knows softball understands that its very tough to turn a double play," the coach added. "We played solid defense -- only one error in the game. Unfortunately, the ball that left the yard in the fifth inning really hurt us, along with two hit batters with the bases loaded."

Even with those mistakes, the Lady Tigers gave themselves a chance to win this game, the coach said.

"This is the performance the coaches have been waiting for, and I'm sure the girls have been waiting for also," he added. "I really feel the darkness is giving way to the sunlight."

Middleton 10, Mountain Home 0

(Five innings)

Playing under the lights Friday night at Middleton didn't seem to help the Lady Tigers get any closer to the light, as they lost to the Lady Vikings in a five-inning shutout. Middleton put up three runs in the first and third innings and two in the second and fourth as they won in five.

"It was a disappointing night in Middleton," Coach Nicolosi said. "We seemed flat from the beginning of the game, which surprised me. The girls seemed to be excited to play under the lights, but maybe the change in our pre-game preparation, due to having to wait for the JV game, got to the girls.

"In the first, McKenna should have got out of the inning with only that double being hit," the coach added. "But instead, we give them three (runs), and we never recovered. We are still showing our inexperience defensively."

Offensively, the team hit some really hard shots, but Middleton was up to the challenge, the coach said.

"They made some excellent plays on us and in my opinion are the best defensive team we've seen," he said. "We will keep working on those things that we need to, and I'm confident things will turn around for these players."

Mountain Home managed just four hits in the game as Taylor Reed, Ryan Floyd, McKenna Lewis and CJ Bish had hits. Lewis suffered the loss, though just five of Middleton's 10 runs were earned.

The Lady Tigers fall to 0-11 on the season and 0-6 in conference play. This week's schedule had Kuna in town on Tuesday, Caldwell on Thursday in away game, and Caldwell at Mountain Home on Friday.