Despite losses, Lady Tigers continue to dominate

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers picked up three wins last week while also suffering their first two losses of the season.

Mountain Home 10, Nampa 6

Mountain Home jumped out to a 9-1 lead over Nampa last Tuesday and hung on for a 10-6 conference softball victory at West Park in Nampa.

Nickayla Skinner was scheduled to pitch the game, but in the top of the first inning fouled a pitch off her foot. The pain put her on the bench after a ground-rule double in that at bat.

Blas Lord, who had been nursing a hand injury after getting hit in the knuckles at Minico, was called upon to pitch.

Between a couple errors and a walk, Nampa had the bases loaded with no outs in the bottom of the first, but Lord got out of the inning with just one run scoring, as Mountain Home led 3-1 after an inning.

Mountain Home added six more runs in the second inning but were shut out until getting a run in the sixth.

Nampa scored another run in the third and plated three in the sixth to make it 10-5. They added another run in the seventh and had the bases loaded with two out, when Nickayla Skinner came in to get the out to end the inning and the game, Mountain Home prevailing 10-6.

"It was kind of back-and-forth whether we were going to start Blas tonight anyway, as Nick needed some rest as well, and with Blas not being healthy, we went with Nick to start. So I guess karma came back and Blas got to start," said Lady Tiger softball coach Chris Asbury.

"She deserves a lot better out of our defense than that, as it got interesting there, but you erase the unearned runs they got and we're not even in that situation.

"We kind of went to sleep in the middle innings and almost refused to score runs. We had a lot of opportunities to score runs. Days like this happen -- a great day to play ball, but we kind of went through the motions at times."

Blas Lord improved to 2-0 on the season, giving up just one earned run on four hits, while striking out 11 and walking seven.

Jennica Quintal, Lindsay Sessions and Megan Kelly each had two hits. Kelly had an RBI. Nickayla Skinner had a two-run double and Madison Siefferman, Arlene Futch and Charde Huntington also had hits. Huntington had an RBI.

Mountain Home 9, Eagle 2

The Lady Tigers opened play in the Idaho Sporting Goods Softball Tournament Friday with a 9-2 win over Eagle at Borah High School.

Mountain Home scored three runs in the third inning, added two more in the fifth and closed out their scoring with four in the sixth. Eagle got their two runs in the fourth.

Nickayla Skinner scattered five hits while striking out 16 Eagle batters. She also had a great day at the plate, getting three hits, two of them home runs, and driving in five runs.

Madison Siefferman, Arlene Futch and Jennica Quintal each had two hits. Futch had a double and an RBI. Lindsay Sessions had a triple and an RBI, Courtney Christiansen had a hit and Megan Kelly had an RBI.

"It was a very satisfying win against a good 5A ball club," said Coach Asbury.

Coeur d'Alene 7, Mountain Home 4

The Lady Tigers suffered their first loss of the season Friday afternoon when they lost, 7-4, to Coeur d'Alene in the ISG tourney at Meridian High School.

A five-run fifth inning for the Lady Vikings was the difference in the game.

Mountain Home outhit Coeur d'Alene 12-4, but Blas Lord, who suffered the loss, her first in three decisions, walked eight batters.

Madison Siefferman, Nickayla Skinner, Lindsay Sessions and Blas Lord each had two hits in the game. Siefferman had a triple and Lord had a double and drove in three runs. Arlene Futch, Jennica Quintal, Megan Kelly and Courtney Christiansen also had hits. Quintal had an RBI.

"It was good experience for us to go against probably one of the best 5A teams in the state in Coeur d'Alene," said Coach Asbury.

Mountain Home 10, Valllivue 0

Nickayla Skinner tossed a no-hitter against Vallivue Saturday morning at Mountain View as the Lady Tigers blanked the Lady Falcons 10-0.

"It was a total team effort and everyone contributed," said Coach Asbury of the win.

Madison Siefferman and Jennica Quintal each had three hits in the win. Siefferman had a double and triple and drove in two runs. Quintal had a triple and three RBIs. Charde Huntington had two hits, including a double, and drove in two runs. Arlene Futch had a double and an RBI, Blas Lord had a double and Lindsay Sessions, Rachel Warila and Nickayla Skinner also had hits.

Skinner struck out 16 in improving to 8-0 on the season.

Twin Falls 11, Mountain Home 1

Mountain Home errors led to seven unearned runs as the Twin Falls Lady Bruins downed Mountain Home 11-1 in a game where the time limit prevented Mountain Home from batting in the bottom of the seventh -- after Twin Falls had scored five runs in the top of the inning.

"Defensively, we should have been a lot more focused against Twin," said Coach Asbury. "Overall, for the tournament, I'm proud of the girls, picking up wins against some good 5A schools."

Mountain Home managed just five hits against Twin Falls. Madison Siefferman and Charde Huntington both had two hits and Arlene Futch had a double and knocked in the lone Mountain Home run.

Blas Lord suffered the loss, falling to 2-2 on the season. She struck out 10 and walked five and gave up 11 hits. Seven of the 11 runs scored by Twin Falls were unearned.

The Lady Tigers, now 10-2 on the season, are off this week for spring break. They have home games on April 6 and 8 against Columbia and Skyview. They travel to Kuna on April 9.