Lady Tigers continue to struggle after trio of losses

It was a rough week for the Mountain Home Lady Tigers softball team as they dropped three games.

Jerome 9, Mountain Home 7

A five-run second inning gave Jerome a cushion that carried them to a 9-7 win over Mountain Home last Tuesday at Memmelaar Field in Mountain Home.

The visiting Lady Tigers put up five runs in the top of the second inning. Mountain Home's Lady Tigers managed two in the bottom of the inning, but the edge was more than enough, as Mountain Home could never cut the deficit to less than two runs, trailing 6-4, 7-5 and 9-7.

Mountain Home head softball coach Ron Nicolosi was disappointed in his girls' effort against Jerome.

"We had plenty of chances, but our mistakes are what cost us this ball game," he said. "It wasn't so much what Jerome did. This was probably the worst defensive game we've had all year. We just weren't here mentally and we had a lot of breakdowns defensively, which cost us the game."

Mountain Home had 11 hits against Jerome pitching. Maeghan Pomerantz, Ashton Harrigan and McKenna Lewis each had two hits, Pomerantz had two doubles and an RBI, Lewis also had an RBI, and Harrigan scored two runs. Madi Karst, Alexis Juarez and Morgan Vivier had RBI-singles. Teresa Fredell and Kaleen Hodgerson also had hits, and Taylor Reed had an RBI.

McKenna Lewis suffered the loss.

Kuna 10, Mountain Home 0

(5 innings)

The league-leading Lady Kavemen from Kuna made quick work of the Lady Tigers Thursday at Kuna, blanking Mountain Home 10-0 in five innings.

Kuna put up four runs in the first inning, added another run in the third, and plated five runs in the fourth. The game ended in the fifth by the 10-run rule.

"Coming into the game we talked about making the routine plays, but unfortunately we made too many physical and mental errors," Coach Nicolosi said. "I was disappointed that we allowed them to run as aggressively on us as they did. That was something we worked on and talked about at practice. We mentally lost our composure from the pressure Kuna put on us."

Mountain Home only had three hits off Kuna's Nicole Arizana. Morgan Vivier had two of them, and Taylor Reed had the other. Heather Adams suffered the loss.

Middleton 11, Mountain Home 1

(5 innings)

Middleton pounded out 10 hits Friday, five of them for extra bases, as they made quick work of the Lady Tigers, 11-1, in five innings at Middleton.

Mountain Home scored its lone run in the top of the first, but the Lady Vikings pushed two runs across in the bottom half of the inning to take a 2-1 lead.

Middleton followed with four runs in the second, three in the third, and ended the game by the 10-run rule with two in the fifth for an 11-1 win.

"We got beat by a better team today," Coach Nicolosi said. "Middleton came out swinging the bat with authority and we didn't. I was happy that we had no strikeouts but very disappointed that out of 15 outs in the game, 13 of them were in the infield, with weak ground balls or pop-ups."

The Lady Tigers only had three hits in the game, just one past the first inning. Taylor Reed, Morgan Vivier and McKenna Lewis had hits. Heather Adams had an RBI. McKenna Lewis suffered the loss.

Mountain Home has a busy week this week. They traveled to Filer Monday, hosted Emmett on Tuesday, travel to Columbia on Thursday and go to Nampa on Friday.

The Mountain Home News continues its series of looking at the Mountain Home Lady Tigers varsity softball team.

Taylor Reed

Taylor Reed is a junior infielder. The daughter of Brian and Shannon Reed, she has lots of hobbies, which include "fishing, hunting, camping, softball and hanging out with friends."

Discussing her goals for the season, Taylor said, "I want to become a better player as a whole, and help my team make it as far as we can."

Taylor's future goals include attending Idaho State University and becoming a dental hygienist.

Bridget Black

Bridget Black is a senior outfielder on the Lady Tigers. The daughter of Chris Black, her hobbies include "cowboyin', mudding, acting -- anything fun."

Bridget's goals for the season include "become a better player, and as a team, make it to Districts."

Her future plans are to "go to CSI for its dental hygiene program."