Lady Tigers eliminated from state contention

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers dropped games to Bishop Kelly and Middleton last week to be eliminated from the District III 4A Softball Tournament.

Bishop Kelly 13,

Mountain Home 3

(5 innings)

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers opened the District III 4A Softball Tournament at Bishop Kelly last Monday against the second-seeded Lady Knights.

Bishop Kelly had 10-runned the Lady Tigers twice during the regular season, and this time would be no different as the Lady Knights won in just five innings.

Mountain Home got on the scoreboard in the top of the third inning when they scored on an error to make it 4-1, Bishop Kelly. But the Lady Knights responded with five runs in the bottom half of the inning to make it 9-1 after three.

Morgan Vivier doubled in a couple runs in the top of the fourth to cut it to 9-3, but Bishop Kelly put four more runs on the board in the bottom half of the inning. When the Lady Tigers failed to score in the top of the fifth, the game was called a Bishop Kelly win by the 10-run rule.

The Lady Tigers hit the ball hard all night, but just six balls made it through for hits.

Morgan Vivier had a two-run double and Taylor Reed, Heather Adams, Madi Karst, McKenna Lewis and Ashten Harrigan also had hits for Mountain Home. Heather Adams and McKenna Lewis shared the pitching duties, with Adams suffering the loss.

"We're pretty happy with our performance at the plate," said Lady Tigers softball coach Ron Nicolosi. "We did come out swinging the bat. We had to get on the girls a little bit for bat speed, because we were a little conservative, perhaps nervous, but once we got on them and told them to go ahead and relax and swing, and put that bat speed into use, we started really doing well. I think we can carry that forward into tomorrow."

Middleton 7, Mountain Home 5

The Lady Tigers faced Middleton last Tuesday at Middleton in a loser-out game.

The third-seeded Lady Vikings had been upset by sixth-seeded Skyview the day before. Mountain Home jumped out to a early 4-0 lead, but Middleton came back for a 7-5 win to eliminate the Lady Tigers from state contention.

Mountain Home got five of their 13 hits in the second inning when they plated four runs to take a 4-0 lead.

Middleton got single runs in the second and third innings, then had five hits in the fourth, three of them home runs, as they scored five times to take a 7-4 lead.

McKenna Lewis came on in relief of Heather Adams in the circle, and shut down the Lady Vikings the rest of the way, but a potentially big inning for Mountain Home in the sixth when they had four hits, only produced one run, as they were only able to cut it to 7-5.

The Lady Tigers hit the ball hard in the top of the seventh, but none of them found a hole for a hit, and Middleton prevailed.

Coach Nicolosi was quick to take responsibility for the Middleton loss.

"I take responsibility for this. There were some decisions I could have made better, but the girls played outstanding," the coach said. "I thought we battled well, and you've got to give Middleton a lot of credit. They didn't give up, they hit the ball well, and a couple of them got out, and obviously we know, there's no defense for that.

"I really wish I'd had a chance to make some different decisions," the coach added. "I'll learn from it and hopefully, I'll get better for it and do better next year.

"I thought McKenna (Lewis) came in and did a great job. She was hitting the spots, and that's what we think she'll be like next year."

Taylor Reed, Heather Adams, Madi Karst and Morgan Vivier each had two hits for the Lady Tigers. Karst had two RBI, Adams, one, and Vivier scored two runs. Teresa Fredell, Maeghan Pomerantz, McKenna Lewis, Ashten Harrigan and Kendra Castillo also had hits, Fredell drove in two runs.

Heather Adams suffered the loss, and McKenna Lewis pitched two and a third innings of one-hit, scoreless ball, striking out three batters.

Coach Nicolosi choked up talking about this group of seniors that he loses to graduation.

"I get a little emotional, because they've meant a lot to the program, and they've given a lot to the program," he said. "They've worked hard and they've been good examples for our younger kids.

"I expect good things out of all of them," the coach added. "They're going to work hard to achieve what it is they want to achieve, and I think that's probably the most satisfying things a coach is that you hope you instill some kind of desire to work hard and to obtain whatever goal you set for yourself."