Lady Tigers continue winning ways with trio of wins

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers picked up three more impressive wins last week in conference softball.

Mountain Home 10, Columbia 0

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers certainly did not play like a team that had not played in 10 days when they blanked Columbia, 10-0, in five innings last Tuesday at Eastside Park in Mountain Home.

Nickayla Skinner gave up just one hit while striking out 13 batters. She also helped her cause at the plate with two triples and an RBI.

Jennica Quintal, Megan Kelly, Blas Lord and Charde Huntington also had two hits and RBI. Kelly had a double and Lord knocked in two runs. Arlene Futch, Lindsay Sessions and Courtney Christiansen also had hits. Futch and Sessions knocked in runs and Christiansen had a double.

Mountain Home Lady Tiger softball coach Chris Asbury was pleased with the effort.

"We had three or four days of good practice during Spring Break and made the girls fully aware that we're at the half-way point of the season. Expectations are always high in our program, but things get turned up a notch this time of year and we expect to be a lot sharper, and we were tonight."

Mountain Home 11, Skyview 0

The Lady Tigers made quick work of Skyview Thursday, downing the Lady Hawks 11-0 in five innings. Nickayla Skinner pitched a five inning no-hitter while striking out 13.

Mountain Home struck for five runs in the first and second innings on their way to the win, pounding out 13 hits.

Charde Huntington, Blas Lord, Megan Kelly, Nickayla Skinner and Madison Siefferman each had two hits, Huntington drove in four runs, Lord three, and Kelly and Skinner each had one RBI. Arlene Futch, Lindsay Sessions and Rachel Warila also had hits. Sessions had an RBI.

"The girls are having a great week," said Coach Asbury. "They are preparing well and they've taken it up another notch here and looking forward to that as a momentum-builder rolling into our big showdown with Kuna."

Mountain Home 14, Kuna 0

The Lady Tigers went to Kuna Friday to face the Lady Kavemen with first place on the line. The two teams had faced each other for the Pre-Season SIC Tournament championship on March 13 at Skyview, with Mountain Home finally winning it in 10 innings, 6-5, so, with both teams unbeaten in conference it was expected to be a battle.

Somebody forgot to tell that to the Mountain Home Lady Tigers. They came to play and win, and win they did, 14-0 in six innings.

After a scoreless first inning, Mountain Home put together five hits in the second inning to score four runs to take a 4-0 lead. They added single runs in the fourth and fifth, and put the game away with eight runs in the sixth inning.

"I was very proud of the effort," said Coach Asbury after the game. "We've kind of been on a little bit of a roll this week. We're hitting the ball real well, and taking advantage of some miscues by Kuna is a sign of a good team. We had a lot of two-strike counts we put ourselves in a big hole and came through with hits, so glad to see their maturity, it's really shown through this week at the plate."

Arlene Futch led the 17-hit attack with four hits, including two doubles and three RBI. Madison Siefferman, Jennica Quintal, Megan Kelly, Charde Huntington and Courtney Christiansen each had two hits, Siefferman had two RBI, Kelly had a double and an RBI and Christiansen also knocked in a run.

Lindsay Sessions had a three-run double, Blas Lord had an RBI-triple and Nickayla Skinner had a hit and RBI. Skinner improved to 11-0 on the season, throwing a four-hit shutout while striking out 12.

The Lady Tigers, 13-2, overall, and 6-0 in league play, completed the first time through their conference schedule yesterday, with a home game against Bishop Kelly. The Lady Tigers start the second time through conference play tomorrow at Emmett.