Lady Tigers finish season with a win

After a tough 2-1 loss at Vallivue earlier in the week, the Mountain Home Lady Tigers finished off their regular season schedule with a 9-2 win over Nampa.

Vallivue 2

Mountain Home 1

Hilary Christensen singled in Stephanie Stover from second in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Vallivue Lady Falcons a 2-1 win over the Mountain Home Lady Tigers last Tuesday at Vallivue. It was a heartbreaking loss for Mountain Home, which had scored a run in the top of the seventh to tie the game at 1-1.

Vallivue scored an unearned run in the first inning to take a 1-0 lead, and the score stayed that way until the seventh, as Mountain Home's Ali Hillman and Vallivue's Jessica Porter were locked into a great pitching duel.

Mountain Home managed just two hits off Porter until the seventh, when Sammy Dodge doubled with one out. She moved to third on a passed ball, and came home on Dani Sloderbeck's ground-out.

In the Vallivue seventh, Stephanie Slover led off the inning with a double, and after Emily Shoemaker popped up for the first out, Hilary Christensen singled to right, scoring Stover.

"We tied it up finally in the seventh, but then they just got a couple key hits and managed to get the runner in," said Mountain Home Lady Tiger softball coach Joy Memmelaar, in comments after the game. "It was just too little too late, I guess they say, but the girls stuck in there and played the whole ball game.

"Ali (Hillman) pitched a beautiful game today, her best game this year, so it was a heartbreaker for her, I'm sure."

Hillman gave up just six hits while striking out 10 batters. She walked two. She also had one of the three hits Mountain Home got off Porter. Kim Hamilton had the other one, and Dani Sloderbeck had an RBI.

Mountain Home 9

Nampa 2

The Lady Tigers had only managed five hits off Katelyn Biggs when they faced her in Nampa earlier in the season and lost 4-1, but they had her number last Thursday night when they faced her in Mountain Home.

With five runs in the fourth inning, the Lady Tigers chased her, building up an 8-0 lead.

Nampa got their first hit and run in the fifth, when Ashleigh Daily led off the inning with a home run off Ali Hillman. Hillman got revenge in the sixth, when she knocked one out off Daily, who had taken over as pitcher for Nampa. The Lady Bulldogs scored another run in the seventh to make it a 9-2 final.

"It was an excellent win!" said a happy Coach Memmelaar after the game. "We told the girls before the game that we wanted them to play well going into districts, win or lose, and they did.

"We came out hitting the ball and played good defense, and picked off a couple runners. It was a good way to go into district!"

Ali Hillman scattered four hits to even her record at 7-7 on the season. She had seven strikeouts and walked just two. She helped herself out at the plate with a double and a home run, and drove in three runs.

Dani Sloderbeck had two doubles and an RBI, and Paula Doerr, Sammy Dodge and Brei Draper each had two hits including doubles, and RBIs. Michelle Reynolds had a hit and two RBIs, Ashley Kipp had two hits, and Kim Hamilton also had a hit.

The Lady Tigers finished 6-8 in conference and 11-11 overall.

Mountain Home was seeded seventh going into the District III 4A Softball Tournament, which opened Monday at Bishop Kelly, and opened against second seeded Emmett, a team they split with during the regular season, winning at home, 3-1, and losing at Emmett, 5-1.

The top two teams at district have automatic berths at the 4A State Tournament May 19-21 in Post Falls. The third place team travels north on Saturday to play the north Idaho runner-up for another berth at state.