Lady Tigers drop three conference softball games

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers had a rough week, dropping three conference softball games.

Kuna 15, Mountain Home 5

Kuna pounded out 17 hits in a five-inning 15-5 win over the Lady Tigers last Tuesday at Memmelaar Field in Mountain Home.

Kuna struck for three runs in the first inning, seven in the second to take a 10-0 lead, and put the game away with four runs in the fifth to win by the 10-run rule, 15-5.

"The girls had 10 hits off (Nicole) Arizana, and when you're looking at that caliber of pitcher, I really think that helped us move forward into the Middleton game. We're trying. We're putting the effort out and giving it the best shot we can, and we're just coming up short right now."

Morgan Vivier, Taylor Reed, Madi Karst and C.J. Bish led Mountain Home at the plate with two hits each, Vivier drove in two runs, Karst and Reed both had one RBI. Maeghan Pomerantz and Kelly Elliott also had hits.

Heather Adams suffered the loss, though just six of Kuna's 15 runs were earned.

Middleton 8, Mountain Home 3

Middleton jumped out to a 4-0 first inning lead and never looked back as Mountain Home lost to the Lady Vikings 8-3 last Thursday at Memmelaar field.

The Lady Tigers hit the ball hard against Middleton, but only two of the balls did not get caught or fielded.

"Give Middleton credit, we put the ball in play pretty well, and they made the plays," the coach said. "As lop-sided as the score seemed, it came down to one play, but the girls, their attitude and play, they fought. We put some runs on the board even though we only had the two hits, and defensively, we were moving around, we were covering the bags. I believe we took out three of their runners when they were trying to run on us, and then they stopped running. Morgan (Vivier) had some great plays from behind the plate, our outfield did phenomenal."

Maeghan Pomerantz and Kira Baker had Mountain Home's only hits against Middleton, Baker knocked in a run. Heather Adams suffered the loss, despite giving up just four earned runs, and striking out six batters.

Emmett 19, Mountain Home 4

Emmett pounded out 14 hits and took advantage of eight Mountain Home errors to roll to a 19-4 five-inning win at Emmett on Friday.

Mountain Home committed six of its eight errors in the second inning when the Lady Huskies scored 11 runs to go up 14-1. The Lady Tigers scored three runs in the fifth inning to make it a 19-4 final, the game ending by the 10-run rule.

"It came down to mistakes again," Coach Nicolosi said, "But the one thing I've got to say about this group is, for as difficult as the season has been, they're sticking together, they're staying together as a team, they're encouraging each other as much as possible.

"Emmett hit the ball today. I wanted to try and give Heather (Adams) a little break after throwing almost 130 pitches last night, so we decided to start McKenna (Lewis), and she did a good job. She got to some balls that should have been handled, so we don't hold anything against McKenna, she did really well and definitely grew from the experience

Mountain Home managed just three hits off two Emmett pitchers. Madi Karst had two of them, including a double, and knocked in a run. Heather Adams had the other hit. Kelly Elliott also had an RBI.

The Lady Tigers fell to 1-8 in conference play and 3-11 overall. Mountain Home hosted Columbia Tuesday and Nampa Thursday, and play at Caldwell on Saturday.

Going into this week's game Nampa and Mountain Home were tied for eighth place in the league standings, making Thursday's game an important one for making the district tournament in two weeks.

"Right now, that Nampa game will be everything," the coach said. "They beat Skyview, and they're a scrappy team also, so we've got to put this game behind us move forward."