Lady Tigers finish second at pre-season tournament

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers finished second at the second annual Pre-Season SIC Softball Tournament at Skyview over the weekend, beating Nampa and Emmett before losing to Skyview in the championship game.

Mountain Home 8, Nampa 3

The young Lady Tigers battled back from a 3-0 deficit to down Nampa 8-3 in their tourney opener on Friday.

The Lady Bulldogs took advantage of three Mountain Home errors to score three runs in the top of the third inning to take a 3-0 lead.

Mountain Home answered back with two runs in the bottom of the third and took the lead for good on an inside-the-park, two-run home run by Courtney Christiansen in the fourth.

The Lady Tigers added another run in the fifth and put the game away with three-runs in the sixth to make it 8-3.

Courtney Christiansen and Madi Karst both had two hits for the Lady Tigers. Christiansen had the home run and drove in three runs. Karst had one RBI.

Kaitlyn Sheehy, Heather Adams, Krissy Elliott and Ashley Sessions each had one hit. Sheehy had an RBI and Elliott had a triple. Rachel Warila also had an RBI.

Heather Adams went the distance for the win, scattering seven hits while striking out four, walking three and hitting one batter. The three Nampa runs were unearned.

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

"They improved every at bat I thought. We made some little adjustments and a lot of the youngsters stepped up and did well."

Mountain Home 3, Emmett 2

The Nampa win put the Lady Tigers against Emmett in the semi-finals. The game was a close one, with Mountain Home scoring a run in the bottom of the seventh to win 3-2.

Emmett took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third on an RBI-double by Sam Adkinson.

Back-to-back singles by Courtney Christiansen, Heather Adams and Madi Karst tied the game at 1-1, and Rachel Warila's RBI-groundout put the Lady Tigers up 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth.

The score stayed at 2-1 until the top of the seventh, when Emmett scored to tie the game at 2-2.

Mountain Home loaded the bases with no one out in the bottom of the seventh and the winning run came home on an error, as the Lady Tigers won 3-2 to advance to the championship game for the second straight year.

Heather Adams had two hits in the game for Mountain Home. Courtney Christiansen and Madi Karst each had one and Karst had an RBI. Rachel Warila also finished the game with an RBI.

Adams improved to 2-0 on the season, scattering seven hits while striking out four and walking one.

Skyview 7, Mountain Home 4

A four-run third inning proved to be the difference in the game as Skyview beat the Lady Tigers 7-4 for the tourney championship.

The Lady Tigers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a two-run single by Madi Karst.

Skyview cut the Mountain Home lead to 2-1 with an unearned run in the second and plated four runs in the third inning to go up 5-1.

Mountain Home pushed across a run in the bottom of the fourth to make it 5-3.

Skyview scored single runs in the fifth and sixth innings to up their lead to 7-3.

The Lady Tigers plated a run in the bottom of the sixth, but were unable to come any closer, as Skyview won 7-4.

"It's tough to go out and beat a quality ball club when you go out and commit as many errors as we did," said Coach Asbury after the game. "I think our age and maturity showed a little bit at times, but you know what, I couldn't be prouder, the expectations blown out of the water as far as what I foresaw coming into the weekend."

Rachel Warila had two hits for the Lady Tigers. Meanwhile, Madison Siefferman, Madi Karst, Krissy Elliott and Ashley Sessions also had hits. Karst had two RBI and Siefferman one. Jacci Cristobal also had an RBI.

Heather Adams dropped to 2-1 on the season, giving up 10 hits, but just three of the seven Skyview runs were earned.

The Lady Tigers opened their conference play Tuesday at home against Bishop Kelly. They travel to Emmett to face the Lady Huskies on Friday.