Lady Tigers set sights on second state title

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers continued their dominance in SIC 4A softball, beating Skyview and Bishop Kelly to end the regular season schedule.

Mountain Home 9, Skyview 1

The Lady Tigers kept their conference record unblemished, beating Skyview 9-1 last Tuesday at Skyview.

Mountain Home scored two runs in the second inning and added four more in the third to go up 6-0 on the Lady Hawks. Skyview took advantage of a couple Lady Tiger errors to score an unearned in the fourth.

"We had some opportunities we didn't take advantage of with timely hitting with girls on base that we didn't move around," said Lady Tiger softball coach Chris Asbury after the game.

"We hit a lot of balls at people, so their defense actually placed well. Give it to Skyview, they're a much improved team since the first time around."

Nickayla Skinner had three hits, including a double, and knocked in a run. Arlene Futch, Megan Kelly and Rachel Warila each had two hits. Warila and Futch had doubles, Kelly a triple, Warila knocked in three runs and Futch and Kelly each had one RBI. Madison Siefferman and Blas Lord also had hits.

Nickayla Skinner improved to 17-0, giving up just two hits while striking out 14.

Lady Tigers 25, Knights 5

The Lady Tigers closed out their regular season at Bishop Kelly Thursday against the Lady Knights, and scored early on their way to a 25-5 five-inning win.

Krissy Elliott paced a 22-hit attack with five hits, including two doubles and six RBIs. Jennica Quintal had four hits and drove in a run.

Meanwhile, Madison Siefferman, Nickayla Skinner, Rachel Warila and Megan Kelly all had two hits. Siefferman had a double and drove in four runs, Kelly had a double and drove in three, Skinner hit a two-run home run and Warila also knocked in a run.

Charde Huntington, Ashley Sessions, Courtney Christiansen and Lindsay Sessions all had hits and RBIs. Arlene Futch also had a hit and Amanda Osborn had an RBI. Blas Lord pitched the first three innings and Nickayla Skinner closed it out. Lord got the win to improve to 4-2.

"Everybody put it in play, made good solid contact, everybody got an at-bat, so I'm very proud when we can dip into our bench and put some runs on the board," said Coach Asbury after the game.

Mountain Home finished its regular season schedule 14-0 in conference and 21-2 overall.

They opened the district tournament Monday at home against Bishop Kelly, and a win there would put them in the semi-finals on Tuesday against the Columbia-Middleton winner. The district championship game is Thursday at 5 p.m. at Skyview.

Coach Asbury indicated they still have some goals ahead of them to complete.

"Four in a row district titles for these seniors would be something pretty special to send them out on," he said. "After that, we're looking to repeat as state champions."