Skinner throws perfect game to lift Lady Tigers over Nampa

After letting one get away at Middleton last Tuesday, Mountain Home Lady Tiger softball coach Joy Memmelaar knew Thursday's game with Nampa was important to bounce back and regain some momentum heading into the district tournament.

The Lady Tigers rose to the occasion, getting a perfect game from Nickayla Skinner, no defensive errors by her defense and a 12-hit attack that produced 10 runs in blanking the Lady Bulldogs 10-0.

"It was an excellent win," said Coach Memmelaar after the game. "We talked about it last time how they could come back, and we talked about what needed to be done, and where they want to go, and they couldn't do it without wining one game at a time, playing one game at a time well, and I have to say that they played one game today excellent, and we told them, 'you know how to do it, you can do it every time, and that's what we're looking for.'

"They played fantastic today. They did it on defense, they did it on offense, they did it with pitching. They really came back."

Nickayla Skinner pitched a perfect game, facing the minimum of 18 batters over the six innings, striking out nine. She also had a hit and scored two runs.

Ashley Kipp and Ashley Christiansen both had three hits, Kipp had a double and a triple and one RBI, and Christiansen had a home run and four RBIs. Her three-run home run in the sixth inning ended the game by the 10-run rule. Sammy Dodge had two hits including a triple and knocked in three runs, and Kelsey Hopkins, Sheena Nelsen and Tiffany Smith also had hits.

Middleton 6

Mtn. Home 5

(8 innings)

The Lady Tigers let one get away from them last Tuesday at Middleton, losing to the Lady Vikings, 6-5 in eight innings.

After Middleton scored an unearned run in the third, the Lady Tigers struck for four runs in the fourth to go up 4-1. Middleton added another unearned run in the bottom half of the inning to cut it to 4-2.

Middleton loaded the bases with nobody out in the sixth, but while Nickayla Skinner retired the next three batters, the Lady Vikings did manage one run to make it 4-3.

Middleton cashed in on errors in the seventh to tie the game and send it to extra innings.

Krista Gillaspy doubled in Sammy Dodge with the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth as Mountain Home regained the lead, 5-4, but Middleton scored twice in the bottom half, to win, 6-5.

Coach Memmelaar talked about the game getting away from them.

"Well, it gets away (from you) when you make eight errors, and that's not excusable -- there's no way to make it any plainer. You make fielding errors and they earn, what, one earned run all game and they beat us. That's just not heads-up ball playing, and that's what we needed going into the end of the season, but it's over and done, so we'll just have to work on it."

Ashley Kipp had three hits for the Lady Tigers, Krista Gillaspy had two, including a double and an RBI. Sheena Nelsen had a two-run single, Sammy Dodge had a double, and Tiffany Smith and Nickayla Skinner also had hits.

Skinner suffered the loss despite striking out eight and giving up just one earned run.

The Lady Tigers finished the regular season 15-8 overall, and 10-4 in conference, which gave them the number two seed going into the District III 4A Softball Tournament at Columbia. They opened Monday against Nampa.