Lady Tigers open season with losses to Elko, Borah

Friday, March 20, 2015

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers opened their softball season last week with losses to Elko and Borah.

Elko 12, Mountain Home 11

Elko 9, Mountain Home 7

Mountain Home hosted Elko on Thursday in a non-conference softball doubleheader and dropped two close games to the visitors from Nevada, 12-11 and 9-7, at Memmelaar Field.

Mountain Home committed 10 errors in the first game, which led to eight unearned runs and wiped out an early 7-3 Mountain Home lead.

Taylor Reed and McKenna Lewis both had two hits for Mountain Home in the first game. Reed had two doubles and drove in two runs, Lewis also had a double and drove in four. CJ Bish had three hits, Ryan Floyd had a double and scored three runs, and Paris Mederios also had a hit and scored two runs.

McKenna Lewis started in the circle and pitched the first four innings, giving up nine runs with just four of them earned. She struck out two and walked four and suffered the loss. Ryan Floyd pitched the final three innings, giving up three unearned runs while striking out four.

The second game went just five innings at the request of the Elko coach because of their four-hour bus ride home. The Lady Tigers cut down their errors to just three but found themselves down 9-1 heading into the bottom of the fifth. They managed six runs in the inning but fell short in the final inning.

Taylor Reed and Ashten Harrigan led the Lady Tigers at the plate with two hits apiece. Reed had a double and two RBIs, Harrigan also knocked in a run. Ryan Floyd had a triple and an RBI, Breanna Tindall doubled in a run. Paris Mederios and McKenna Lewis also had hits.

Ryan Floyd was the starter and loser of the second game, despite giving up just one earned run in 2.33 innings. McKenna Lewis pitched the final 2.67 innings.

"I was pleased that we played better defensively in the second game," said Mountain Home Lady Tigers softball coach Ron Nicolosi. "Going from10 errors in game one to only three in game two was a great improvement, however, it accounted for five unearned runs. I thought McKenna (Lewis) and Ryan (Floyd) pitched well enough to win both games.

"Elko did a very good of getting timely hits when we made mistakes, and I think we can expect that when we hit conference play next month," the coach added. "Overall, today was a great learning day. Would we have liked to have at least won a game? Of course, but the coaches saw an attitude in the girls of not giving up, confidence at times and a sense that these girls will become a team. These are great traits to build on."

Borah 13, Mountain Home 9

Borah scored all 13 runs in two innings on their way to a 13-9 non-conference softball win over the Lady Tigers on Friday at Memmelaar Field. The game, which started more than 30 minutes late due an accident on the interstate that delayed the umpires and Borah team, went just six innings due to darkness.

The Lady Lions broke open a scoreless game with five runs in the third and added eight more in the fourth to go up, 13-0. Mountain Home countered with eight in the bottom half of the fourth and added one in the bottom of the sixth to make it a 13-9 final.

Breanna Tindall had the hot bat at the plate for the Lady Tigers, getting three hits, two of them doubles, while driving in four runs. Taylor Reed, CJ Bish, McKenna Lewis, Ashten Harrigan and Hailey Smith also had hits, Reed drove in two runs. Bish added one while Harrigan scored two runs.

McKenna Lewis was the starter and losing pitcher, going three innings, giving up just three earned runs while striking out five batters. Ryan Floyd pitched the final three innings, also giving up just three earned runs.

"Two poorly played defensive innings cost us big tonight," said Coach Nicolosi after the game. "We threw the ball around and made some poor decisions on where to go with the ball. That ended up giving Borah too much of an advantage and we couldn't recover. I was extremely proud of the girls fighting back and making a game out of it.

"Offensively, we're seeing pitching that we should be hitting better than we are," he added. "Defensively, we need to work harder to understand the game mentally and keep pushing the fundamentals physically."

Maeghan Pomerantz injured her throwing shoulder before the game, which represents "a big blow for us offensively and defensively," said Coach Nicolosi, who was unsure how long she will be out.

Mountain Home hosted Wood River on Tuesday and takes on Filer at home on Friday. The first pitch is 4:30 p.m. at Memmelaar Field.

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