Lady Tigers continue to struggle after three losses

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers dropped two conference games last week and split a doubleheader with Jerome.

Caldwell 11, Mountain Home 1

Great hitting and pitching by Caldwell did the Lady Tigers in last Tuesday, as they lost to the Lady Cougars, 11-1, in six innings in conference softball at Memmelaar Field in Mountain Home.

The Lady Cougars pounded out 16 hits and their pitcher handcuffed Mountain Home hitters, allowing just two hits, while striking out nine, as Caldwell built up a 9-0 lead after three innings.

"We got outhit," said Mountain Home head softball coach Ron Nicolosi. "We weren't ready to play the game and Caldwell came out and just absolutely just tore it up. They hit the ball very well, and to play in this conference, we've got to hit. I believe we only had two hits. Our mistakes were there, but our biggest mistake was just not hitting the ball."

Kelly Elliott and Heather Adams had Mountain Home's only hits in the game.

Adams suffered the loss to drop to 1-3 on the season. She gave up 16 hits, but just six of the 11 runs were earned.

Skyview 13, Mountain Home 3

A 10-run third inning broke open a close game last Wednesday as Skyview beat the Lady Tigers 13-3 in five innings at Memmelaar Field in Mountain Home.

Skyview had eight of their 14 hits in the third inning, including a grand slam home run as they scored ten runs to go up 12-0.

Mountain Home scored one run in the third and two more in the fourth. They hit the ball hard, but Coach Nicolosi indicated their balls could not find the holes, like Skyview's did.

"I tell you what, we had some good stings off the bat, and it's a shame that they didn't fall in for us. Again, you've got to give Skyview credit, a lot of their hits weren't hard, but found the holes, and that's the way the game goes at times.

"I've got to give our girls credit, they hung in there and they tried to hit the ball hard and did, we just didn't get the breaks tonight.

"We'll be back," the coach said. "We made some mistakes out there mentally that we need to clean up, and like I told the girls, we're going to come around and we're going to get a lot better."

Taylor Reed had two of the four hits Mountain Home had against Skyview, and drove in a run. Morgan Vivier and Ashley Sessions also had hits and Maeghan Pomerantz had an RBI. Heather Adams gave up 14 hits, including two doubles and a home run, and dropped to 1-4 on the season.

Mountain Home 15, Jerome 4

Mountain Home 11, Jerome 23

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers bats came alive Saturday against Jerome as they pounded out 30 hits in a split with the visiting Lady Tigers from Jerome.

Mountain Home got 17 hits in the first game, as they blew open a close game with a ten-run fifth inning that ended the game through the ten-run rule in the fifth.

Heather Adams and Kelly Elliott had three hits each in the first game, both of them hitting doubles. Adams drove in two runs, Elliott one. Madi Karst, Taylor Reed, Maeghan Pomerantz and Ashten Harrigan all had two hits. Karst had two doubles and two RBIs, Reed had a double and two RBIs and Harrigan also had a double and drove in one run. Morgan Vivier had an RBI-triple, C.J. Bish had an RBI-double and Beatriz Guevara had an RBI-single.

Heather Adams picked up the win to improve to 2-4 on the season. She had five strikeouts and scattered six hits.

In the second game, Jerome jumped on Mountain Home starting pitcher McKenna Lewis for seven runs in the first inning and added eight more in the third, as they built up a 15-4 lead.

Mountain Home managed to come back to within four, 15-11, after five, but Jerome added three more runs in the sixth and five in the seventh to claim the second game 23-11.

Kelly Elliott, Heather Adams and Kira Baker all had two hits, including doubles. Adams had an RBI. Maeghan Pomerantz, Ashten Harrigan, Sarah Osborn, Kalleen Hodgerson, Ashley Sessions, Morgan Vivier and C.J. Bish all had hits. Hodgerson had a two-run double, Bish had an RBI-double and Osborn, an RBI-single.

McKenna Lewis, coming up off the JV squad for the doubleheader, suffered the loss, giving up 15 runs in three-plus innings, but just six of them were earned.

"I really felt we should have come out with two wins today," said Coach Nicolosi. "The second game we got behind and we made some mistakes, but at the same time, we're looking at something.

"We had the opportunity to put some players in there and see some players that we brought up from the JV and they did a great job," he added. "But I think that might have affected them a little bit with the changes that we made. We started slow in that second game, but we never gave up.

"We definitely didn't do well behind McKenna," the coach said. "She pitched well for her first time up at varsity, and we didn't help her out in the field. I think had we done that, momentum would have been different for us, and I don't think the game would have been quite as out of control as it was."

The Lady Tigers take a 2-5 overall mark into the Idaho Sporting Goods Tournament Friday and Saturday. They open at noon Friday against Lewiston and face Baker, Ore., at 2 p.m. Friday. Their games on Saturday are at noon and 4 p.m.