Lady Tigers open season with a pair of shutouts

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers got their SIC 4A Conference softball season off to a good start with shutout wins over Middleton and Nampa last week.

On Saturday, they dropped a non-conference doubleheader at Timberline.

Mtn. Home 15

Middleton 0

The Lady Tigers erupted for nine runs in the third inning, and followed that with five more in the fourth, as they opened their softball season with a 15-0 five-inning conference win over the Middleton Lady Vikings at Middleton last Wednesday.

Nickayla Skinner allowed just one Middleton hit while striking out five batters. She also helped her cause at the plate with three hits, including two doubles, and knocked in three runs.

Arlene Futch had four hits, including a double, scored four runs and had an RBI. Kelsey Hopkins and Charde Huntington both had three hits and two RBIs, Huntington had three doubles and Hopkins one. Madison Siefferman had two hits, one a double, and an RBI, Jennica Quintal, Ashley Christiansen, Lindsey Sessions, Tiffany Smith and Megan Kelly also had hits and RBIs.Quintal had a double.

Mtn. Home 8

Nampa 0

Nickayla Skinner pitched a two-hit shutout, and had four hits, including a home run as Mountain Home beat Nampa 8-0 in their in their home opener last Thursday at Eastside Park.

The Lady Tigers struck for four runs in the second inning, and added one in the third, two in the fourth and one in the sixth.

Nickayla Skinner gave up two hits while striking out eight and walking two. She went 4/4 at the plate, with two RBIs and a home run. Jennica Quintal had a triple and one RBI and Charde Huntington had a double and two RBIs. Both had three hits, each. Ashley Christiansen had two hits and an RBI, Arlene Futch, Lindsey Sessions and Madison Siefferman also had hits, and Siefferman had an RBI.

Lady Tiger coach Chris Asbury was pleased to open conference with two wins.

"Definitely! We're pleased with the amount of hits we're getting early in the season, that's something that usually comes along later. We're very pleased with the run production so far."

Timberline 7, 12

Mtn. Home 2, 3

The Lady Tigers traveled over to Timberline High School in Boise on Saturday, and dropped a pair of non-conference games to the 5A Lady Wolves.

In the first game, Mountain Home jumped out to a 2-0 lead with two runs in the third. Timberline scored three runs in the fourth and added four more in the sixth for a 7-2 win.

Mountain Home outhit the Lady Wolves 10-8. Lindsey Sessions and Blas Lord both had two hits in the first game, Sessions had a double. Jennica Quintal, Arlene Futch and Nickayla Skinner also had hits, Skinner's was a double.

Skinner suffered the loss, her first against two wins. She struck out nine batters, walked just one and gave up eight hits and just two earned runs.

In the second game, Mountain Home pushed across three runs in the top of the third to go up 3-1, but Timberline erupted for nine runs against Mountain Home pitcher Blas Lord in the bottom of the third to put the game out of reach.

Madison Siefferman and Kelsie Hopkins both had two hits for Mountain Home in the second game. Nickayla Skinner, Jennica Quintal, Charde Huntington, Megan Kelly and Blas Lord also had hits. Skinner had a double and two RBIs and Kelly also had an RBI.

Lord suffered the loss, but only four of Timberline's 12 runs were earned.

Coach Asbury said their defense let them down.

"Timberline's a very good ball club. As far as I know, they're the team to beat in the 5A, and we had them beat both games.

"We're definitely looking to clean up the defense. Both pitchers pitched great this weekend, I'm proud of them, but our defense has to show up and help them out. That was our downfall against Timberline."

The Lady Tigers are back in conference action this week. They hosted Kuna Tuesday, and travel to Columbia on Thursday.