Lady Tigers open softball season with solid wins

Mountain Home came away with wins over Timberline and Wood River last week as the Lady Tigers opened its softball season.

Lady Tigers 1

Timberline 0

(8 innings)

Sammy Dodge drove in the winning run in the top of the eighth inning at Timberline Thursday, and freshman pitcher Nickayla Skinner struck out nine and scattered four hits to pick up the 1-0 win.

"We're very pleased," said Mountain Home Lady Tiger softball coach Joy Memmelaar after the game. "The girls defensively played a very solid game and we only had one error. They did a real good job making the plays that we needed to make, and they did a real good job at the tie-breaker, having not talked about it yet. We did a real nice job of holding the other team's runners and keeping them off third base."

Kim Hamilton and Sammy Dodge both had three hits for the Lady Tigers, Dodge getting the game-winning single, scoring Tiffany Smith from third in the top of the eighth. Krista Gillaspy, Breann Christiansen and Tiffany Smith also had hits for Mountain Home.

Lady Tigers 7

Wood River 5

Sammy Dodge had the game-winning hit for the second game in a row as the Lady Tigers battled back to beat Wood River 7-5 Saturday at Eastside Park in Mountain Home.

The Lady Tigers took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first as Sammy Dodge doubled in Ashley Kipp after Kipp had reached on a two-out single.

Mountain Home added another run in the third, Kim Hamilton taking second on an error by the centerfielder. She went to third on a wild pitch and came home on an RBI ground-out by Ashley Kipp.

A throwing error led to Wood River's first run in the top of the sixth, but the Lady Tigers added two more runs in the bottom of the inning on an RBI double by Ashley Christiansen and an RBI ground-out by Liz Griffeath.

Sara Harlan, who was had given up just an unearned run heading into the seventh, leading 4-1, walked the first two batters she faced in the top of the seventh. The next batter grounded out, the runners advancing to second and third. A couple of fielding errors by Mountain Home on the next two batters led to two Wood River runs, and then a double brought in two more, and the Lady Tigers trailed, for the first time that day. Harlan settled down and got the next two batters out, but Mountain Home trailed 5-4 going to their last at-bat.

Kim Hamilton led off the Mountain Home seventh with a single and moved to second on Breann Christiansen's single. Hamilton was forced at third on Ashley Kipp's ground-out, Kipp reaching on the fielder's choice. Sammy Dodge then followed with a home run over the right field fence to end the game, the Lady Tigers winning 7-5.

"It's a great way to start the season," said Coach Memmelaar after the game.

Sammy Dodge had three hits and four RBIs, with a double and a home run. Kim Hamilton had two hits, Ashley Kipp and Ashley Christiansen both had hits and RBIs, Christiansen's hit a double, Tawni Downen, Nickayla Skinner and Breann Christiansen also had hits, and Liz Griffeath also had an RBI.

Sara Harlan went the distance for the win, striking out five and walking four. All five runs against her were unearned.

The Lady Tigers took a 2-0 overall record into their conference opener yesterday (Tuesday) at home against Kuna. They travel to Columbia Thursday to face the Lady Wildcats in conference play.

The Lady Tigers are back home on Saturday for a doubleheader against Buhl starting at 11 a.m.