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The girls did it! Lady Tigers win first ever state championship for MHHS
After stumbling early in the tournament they did it the hard way, but timely hits, good base running, solid defense and the arm of star pitcher Nickayla Skinner (with great relief help from Blas Lord) allowed the Mountain Home Lady Tigers softball team to accomplish something this weekend no team, boys or girls, had ever done in the history of Mountain Home High School -- win a state championship.
The parents of the Mountain Home Lady Tigers softball team were wearing T-shirts at the State 4A Softball Tournament in Post Falls Saturday that said, "The third time's the charm," with pictures of their daughters on the back.
The third time was in reference to the fact that for the third year in a row the Mountain Home Lady Tigers had made it to state in softball. They had finished second the previous two years.
But the T-shirts proved true, as the Lady Tigers, after a setback in game two of the tourney, battled back to win five straight, including three on Saturday, beating Emmett twice to win the State 4A Softball Championship.
Mtn. Home 3
Pocatello 0
Kelsie Hopkins' two-run single in the bottom of the third broke up a scoreless duel between Mountain Home's Nickayla Skinner and Pocatello's Jordahn Denny.
It would be more than enough for Skinner, who scattered three hits, striking out 16 as the Lady Tigers opened the State 4A Softball Tournamentat Thursday with a 3-0 win over Pocatello.
Madison Siefferman reached base on an infield hit with one out in the bottom of the third. Jennica Quintal then walked, and both came home on Kelsie Hopkins' two-out single to put Mountain Home up 2-0.
Mountain Home added another run in the bottom of the fifth as Jennica Quintal again walked, stole second, and stole third, and came home on a throwing error to third base.
Besides the hits by Hopkins and Siefferman, Nickayla Skinner, Charde Huntington and Blas Lord also had hits.
"That was a pretty tough team we faced out there," said Lady Tiger softball coach Chris Asbury after the game, "and it only gets tougher from here on out.
"The field conditions the way they were, we tried to take advantage of our base-running and got some hits when we needed to, and that was enough."
Kuna 2
Mtn. Home 1
(9 innings)
The Pocatello win put the Lady Tigers up against Kuna in their first game on Friday. Kuna had got past Wood River 7-6 to advance. Mountain Home had beaten Kuna twice during the regular season, but could manage just four hits and one run, dropping a 2-1 contest in nine innings.
Kuna scored an unearned run in the fifth inning, and Mountain Home tied it in the sixth, as Jennica Quintal's single brought in Blas Lord, who had singled earlier in the inning.
Kelsie Hopkins doubled to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning, but the Lady Tigers were unable to bring her in, as the game went extra innings.
In extra innings in high school fast pitch softball, the last batter to bat in the previous inning is at second base to start the inning.
Neither team scored in the eighth, although Mountain Home did get its base runner to third, but no farther.
In the Kuna ninth, Baylie Smith singled with one out, Ashlea Doughty stopping at third base. Doughty scored the go-ahead run when a Nickayla Skinner pitch sailed to the backstop, and Skinner was unable to tag Doughty with the throw from catcher Ashley Christiansen.
Mountain Home failed to score in the bottom of the ninth, as Kuna's pitcher, Ashleigh Arizana, got a pop up and two strikeouts to end the game, Kuna winning 2-1 in nine innings.
Jennica Quintal had two of Mountain Home's four hits, and knocked in their only run. Kelsie Hopkins had a double and Blas Lord singled and scored.
Nickayla Skinner suffered just her second loss of the season, against 21 wins. She gave up six hits, but both runs were unearned, had 13 strikeouts, and walked just one.
Mtn. Home 16
Preston 5
The Kuna loss put the Lady Tigers in the next game in the loser out side of the bracket against Preston. Preston had lost its opener to Lakeland, but beat Blackfoot. The Lady Indians provided Mountain Home with a chance to get their bats going, as the Lady Tigers had 16 hits in a 16-5 five-inning win.
Mountain Home scored three runs in the first and third innings, and broke the game open with seven in the fourth, as they cruised to the 16-5 win.
Ashley Christiansen and Kelsie Hopkins both had three hits against Preston. Christiansen had a triple and four RBIs, Hopkins a double and triple, scored three runs and had and two RBIs.
Nickayla Skinner and Madison Siefferman both had two hits, Skinner had a two-run home run, Siefferman had an RBI. Jennica Quintal, Arlene Futch and Blas Lord also had hits. Lord's was a double and she also had an RBI.
Nickayla Skinner pitched the first three scoreless innings to get the win, striking out five. Blas Lord pitched the final two innings, and yielded five runs, but just one of them earned. She struck out two.
"The Kuna game was kind of a wake-up call to get our bats going, and the girls responded," said Coach Asbury. "It was good to see."
Mtn. Home 8
Wood River 3
The Lady Tigers' final game of the day on Friday was against Wood River, and the pitching they faced was better, but they still pounded out 11 hits and ended the Lady Wolverines' season 8-3.
Ashley Christiansen and Madison Siefferman both had three hits against Wood River. Christiansen had an RBI. Siefferman scored three runs.
Kelsie Hopkins and Lindsay Sessions both had two hits, including doubles. Hopkins had an RBI and Blas Lord had an RBI single.
Nickayla Skinner improved to 22-2 on the season, striking out 11 and walking two.
"The girls are looking forward to getting another crack at Kuna, so after the letdown this morning, they have kept battling," said Coach Asbury after the game. "We have Kuna again, and then the championship round against Emmett."
Mtn. Home 2
Kuna 1
Mountain Home started off Saturday morning against Kuna, and was involved in another 2-1 ball game again, but this time the Lady Tigers prevailed in seven.
Once again it was another pitching duel between Nickayla Skinner and Kuna's Ashleigh Arizana.
Both teams scored unearned runs in the second inning and it stayed at 1-1 until the sixth when Jennica Quintal led off the inning with a single, and came home on Nickayla Skinner's two-out double to put Mountain Home up 2-1.
Kuna got a two-out single in the seventh but Nickayla Skinner struck out Becky Smith to end the inning and the ball game, the Lady Tigers advancing back to the championship round again with their 2-1 win. Kuna finished third in the tournament.
Besides Nickayla Skinner's RBI double, Jennica Quintal had two hits, and Ashley Christiansen had a hit.
"The girls came out and took advantage of what we got," said Coach Asbury of the Kuna win. "We didn't hit the ball particularly well off of Arizana, but, hey, Kuna's in the past, now we're looking at Mattingly and the last time we played her we hit her fairly well, so we're pretty confident going into the match-up with Emmett."
Mtn. Home 2
Emmett 1
(8 innings)
Mountain Home went extra innings for the second time in the state tournament Saturday when they took on Emmett in the championship round, needing to beat the Lady Huskies twice to win the title. The Lady Tigers forced the second game with a 2-1 eight inning win.
As expected, the game was another pitching duel between Nickayla Skinner and McKenna Mattingly, but Blas Lord came through in the clutch for Mountain Home just when things looked dark.
In the bottom of the third inning, with Nickayla Skinner out in front one ball and two strikes of Emmett's first batter in the inning, Katie Griffith, Skinner came up lame, and Coach Asbury sent her off to be attended to by the Post Falls trainers.
Despite the sunny weather, a cloud seemed to appear over the Mountain Home faithful, wondering if this, too, would be a year for another second-place finish for the Lady Tigers.
Coach Asbury brought in Blas Lord to pitch. For Lord, it was her eighth appearance in the circle and she had pitched well enough to win in the 3-1 final regular season loss to Emmett at Emmett, but hadn't had any run support.
Lord set the tone by getting Katie Griffith to look at strike three on her first pitch, and there was one out.
Lord seemed to gain confidence with every pitch, and struck out the side. Blas pitched four scoreless two-hit innings, striking out nine batters. Skinner returned to pitch the seventh and eighth innings.
With two outs for Mountain Home in the top of the eighth, Blas Lord reached on an error to keep the inning alive, and Madison Siefferman and Jennica Quintal followed with hits and the Lady Tigers plated two runs to go up 2-0.
The Lady Huskies managed to score one run in the bottom of the eighth, but Nickayla Skinner struck out the final batter to end the game 2-1.
That win forced a second championship game in the double-elimination tournament.
"I tell you what, there's no doubt the two best teams are here," said Lady Tiger assistant softball coach Ron Nicolosi. "We're proud of them. They battled. Emmett's a classy team, classy coaching staff (and) it's fitting that it comes down to one more."
Mountain Home managed just four hits off Mattingly in the game, those coming to Jennica Quintal, Arlene Futch, Nickayla Skinner and Madison Siefferman. Skinner got the win, pitching four innings, giving up one run and one hit and striking out seven. Blas Lord had nine strikeouts in her great four innings of work.
Mtn. Home 10
Emmett 2
The Lady Tigers' confidence got going, as they got their bats going and pushed across ten runs in a 10-2 win for the state title.
Emmett came out fired up in the top of the first inning and got two runs and two hits off Nickayla Skinner to go up 2-0.
Mountain Home, as they have all season, answered the call in the bottom of the first, showing they were not to be denied.
After Jennica Quintal led off the inning with a walk, Arlene Futch singled.
Kelsie Hopkins smashed the ball over the left field fence and Mountain Home led 3-2. It was a lead they would add to the rest of the game.
Nickayla Skinner allowed just one more hit -- a lead off single to start the second inning -- and she retired the final 18 batters to preserve the 10-2 win and the first ever Mountain Home state championship. Skinner ended the game with 11 strikeouts, setting a new State 4A Softball Tournament record of 72, breaking the record of 63, which she set last year at state. Skinner ended the season 25-2.
Arlene Futch had three hits, scored two runs and drove in a run.
Nickayla Skinner, Charde Huntington and Madison Siefferman each had two hits, Skinner had two triples and two RBIs, Huntington had a double and an RBI, and Siefferman had two RBIs. Kelsie Hopkins had a three-run home run, and Jennica Quintal and Lindsay Sessions also had hits.
"Wow! I'm speechless and emotional, but what can you say -- it was a great job," said Coach Asbury in radio comments, waiting to accept the championship trophy and hand out medals to his team. "It was a total team effort with our 13 girls out there, and each and every one of them contributed in some way, shape or form, and with my coaches, I feel pretty blessed right now."
Members of the Mountain Home Lady Tigers 2009 championship softball team include seniors Kelsie Hopkins and Ashley Christiansen; juniors, Charde Huntington, Blas Lord, Lindsay Sessions, Nickayla Skinner, Arlene Futch, Megan Kelly and Jennica Quintal, sophomore, Rachel Warila; and freshmen Courtney Christiansen and Kristina Elliott.
The Lady Tigers finished the season 26-6 overall.
District Activities Director John Clark told the girls they had not only secured a special place in the school's history, but the town's as well. "This is huge, and a lot of them are going to be back next year," he said.
The state championship banner was signed by members of the team and raised in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium during a special end-of-the-year assembly Monday at the high school.