Lady Tigers stay perfect in conference play, but lose to Buhl

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers made it four in a row, staying perfect in league play, before losing their first game of the season, a non-conference game, on Saturday to Buhl.

Mtn. Home 11

Kuna 5

The Lady Tigers pounded out 12 hits last Tuesday in an 11-5 conference softball win over Kuna at Mountain Home.

Krista Gillaspy and Kelsey Hopkins had big bats for the Lady Tigers. Both had two hits including doubles, and Gillaspy knocked in three runs, Hopkins, two.

Ashley Kipp also had a hit and two RBIs. Sammy Dodge had two hits including a double and drove in two runs. Kim Hamilton and Breann Christiansen both had doubles, Hamilton had an RBI, and Nickayla Skinner, Sheena Nelsen and Tiffany Smith also had hits.

Skinner picked up the win, striking out four and walking just one.

"The girls played really well and they hit phenomenally," said Lady Tiger softball coach Joy Memmelaar after the game.

"They've really been doing well hitting, and our defense kind of came alive. We had a little letdown in the middle of the game, but it didn't cost us anything, which was really nice, and the girls managed to maintain and keep their game going the whole time instead of having to come from behind. They kept hitting and staying alive, because Kuna is a hard-hitting team and it's real easy for them to come back, but we stayed focused."

Mtn. Home 7

Columbia 6

(10 innings)

The Lady Tigers had an exciting game at Columbia last Thursday, and battled for 10 innings before pulling it out, 7-6.

Mountain Home took a 1-0 lead in the third inning on a sacrifice fly by Breann Christiansen. Kim Hamilton's two-run single an inning later made it 3-0, but Columbia got one of the runs back in the bottom half of the fourth.

Nickayla Skinner tripled and scored in the fifth to make it 4-1, Mountain Home, but the Lady Wildcats got to Skinner for three runs in the bottom half of the inning to tie the game at 4-4.

Nickayla Skinner battled toe-to-toe with Columbia's Sarah Weekes in the pitching circle.

Skinner pitched out of a bases loaded jam with no outs in the seventh to force extra innings.

Columbia had runners on second and third with no outs in the eighth, but Skinner again pitched out of the jam and got great defense behind her.

Sammy Dodge put the Lady Tigers ahead, 5-4, in the top of the ninth with an RBI single, but Columbia tied it in the bottom of the ninth.

In the top of the 10th, Tiffany Smith's ground-out brought in one run, and Kim Hamilton's single made it 7-5 Mountain Home.

Columbia managed to score one run in the bottom of the 10th, on a sacrifice fly, but Skinner, a freshman, got the final batter to ground out to end the ball game, Mountain Home winning, 7-6.

"What a win it was," said a happy Coach Memmelaar in radio comments after the game. "It took a little while to get the right things in the right order, but it helped that we had already done this (extra innings) once before.

"The girls have been doing a great job on defense. We knew what to do with the ball and where to go with it. It's just a matter of continuing throughout the whole game and putting our bats to use at better times."

Kim Hamilton had three hits and drove in three runs. Ashley Kipp and Krista Gillaspy both had two hits, Sammy Dodge and Tiffany Smith had hits and RBIs, Nickayla Skinner had a triple, Kelsey Hopkins had a hit, and Breann Christiansen had an RBI.

Skinner improved to 3-0, striking out seven, as the Lady Tigers improved to 4-0 on the season and 2-0 in conference play.

Buhl 8

Mtn. Home 5

(8 innings)

The Lady Tigers saw their defense desert them Saturday, giving up seven unearned runs in an 8-5, eight inning loss to Buhl at Eastside Park in Mountain Home.

Nickayla Skinner smacked a home run to lead off the second inning to give Mountain Home a 1-0 lead, but Buhl tied it with a run in the top of the third.

Kim Hamilton hit a home run leading off the third to give the Lady Tigers the lead back, 2-1, but a fielding error helped Buhl tie it in the fourth, 2-2.

The Lady Tigers regained the lead in the fifth, getting back to back singles from Sara Harlan and Kim Hamilton to start the inning off.

Breann Christiansen's ground-out scored Harlan, and Kelsey Hopkins followed with a pinch-hit single that scored Hamilton to make it 4-2.

The score stayed that way until the top of the seventh, when Buhl put timely hits together with Mountain Home errors to score three runs to take the lead, 5-4.

Sara Harlan doubled to lead off the Mountain Home seventh, and scored on Breann Christiansen's ground-out to force extra innings.

Errors by Mountain Home led to three more runs in the eighth for Buhl, and Buhl's pitcher shut down the Lady Tigers' bats in the eighth, Buhl winning 8-5.

"We were pretty lackluster starting the game -- there was no inner zap going on at all," said Coach Memmelaar after the game.

"We couldn't get them pepped up to go, and it just never got any better, and sometimes a loss, even though it's a loss, is a learning tool, and I'm hoping that's what today is going to be, because it was not pretty."

Kim Hamilton, Ashley Christiansen and Sara Harlan all had two hits, Hamilton a home run and an RBI, Harlan had a double. Breann Christiansen had a hit and knocked in two runs, Nickayla Skinner had home run and RBI, and Kelsey Hopkins had a hit and RBI.

Harlan took the loss despite giving up just one earned run. Her record is 1-1.

The Lady Tigers have a busy week this week. They hosted Skyview yesterday, Vallivue today and host Bishop Kelly on Friday.

"BK will be a big test, and Vallivue is very strong this year, even though it's a non-league game, and Skyview, hey, anything can happen on any day," said Memmelaar.