Lady Tigers remain winless against Caldwell, Skyview

Friday, April 10, 2015

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers remain winless in softball after opening their conference season last week against Caldwell and Skyview.

Caldwell 13, Mountain Home 7

Mountain Home and Caldwell battled close for three innings, but Caldwell pulled away for a 13-7 win over the Lady Tigers last Tuesday at Memmelaar Field in Mountain Home during a conference opener for both teams.

Mountain Home led, 4-3, after an inning and again after two then scored two more in the third to tie the game at 7. From there, they went scoreless as Caldwell added single runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth with three more in the top of the seventh for the win.

Ryan Floyd, Maeghan Pomerantz and Ashten Harrigan all had doubles. Floyd drove in three runs and Pomerantz added two. Taylor Reed had a triple, Breanna Tindall had an RBI-single and McKenna Lewis and CJ Bish also had hits.

Ryan Floyd pitched the first three innings for the Lady Tigers, giving up seven runs and seven hits, striking out three and walking six batters. McKenna Lewis pitched the final four innings for the Mountain Home girls, suffering the loss by giving up six runs, four of them earned, while striking out four.

"Unfortunately, our pitchers were off today, and the 10 walks and one hit batter really hurt us," said Lady Tigers' coach Ron Nicolosi. "Walks are tough for the defense and has a tendency to put them on their heels and hurt them mentally.

"Our pitchers got frustrated and then they would press and throw a pitch that was too good, and Caldwell took advantage of that," the coach added. "We need to improve on our bunt coverage, but overall, we played okay defensively. Offensively, we scored enough runs to win this game. We only struck out three times, but left 10 runners on base. It's a disappointing way to start conference play."

Skyview 12, Mountain Home 11

(eight innings)

Skyview took a 12-11 win over Mountain Home in a game that was suspended Thursday after seven innings because of darkness. With the score tied at 11, the game was completed on Friday prior to the start of the following game.

Mountain Home started strong, scoring three runs in the first inning and led by four until a five-error second inning helped the lady Hawks score eight runs to take an 8-4 lead.

A five-run seventh inning gave Mountain Home an 11-8 lead, but the Lady Hawks scored three in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game, at 11.

Play resumed on Friday at Mountain Home, and the Lady Tigerrs blew their chance to score in the top of the eighth, and Skyview pushed across a run in the bottom half to win it by one run.

The Lady Tigers outhit Skyview, 12-9, but six errors helped lead to seven unearned runs for Skyview.

Ryan Floyd, Maeghan Pomerantz, Paris Mederios, CJ Bish and Breanna Tindall all had two hits for the Lady Tigers. Floyd had a double and three RBIs, Pomerantz had two doubles and scored three runs, Tindall had a double and an RBI and Mederios scored two runs. Ashten Harrigan and McKenna Lewis also had hits and RBIs with Harrigan's hit a double.

Lewis went the distance in the circle, giving up just five earned runs while striking out five and walking five.

"Take away the second inning, in which we make five errors, and we win this game," Coach Nicolosi said following the game. "That second inning really hurt us. Skyview's pitchers struggled, but we did not take full advantage of that. Leaving 14 runners on base, 10 of them in scoring position, really cost us on the scoreboard.

"We have to have a better approach at the plate with runners in scoring position and less than two out," the coach added. "I was disappointed in our strikeouts and the timing of them. Four of the five strikeouts were looking, and that's unacceptable. In the eighth inning, we just didn't come through with the big hit. We had a mental error on a fly ball, not tagging and attempting to score. It would have been close, but I think we get in there due to the throw being up the line."

Those types of mistakes really take momentum away from a team and give it to the other, the coach said.

"Even though we have some things to work on, this was a game played well by our girls," he added.

Skyview 19, Mountain Home 5

Skyview pounded out 17 hits, including four homeruns, on its way to a 19-5 win over the Lady Tigers on Friday at Memmelaar Field in Mountain Home.

The Lady Hawks scored six runs in the first inning and built a 13-2 lead before Mountain Home scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth to keep the game going. A six-run sixth put Skyview up, 19-4, and the Lady Tigers were only able to score one more run in the final inning.

Mountain Home managed just five hits in the game. Maeghan Pomerantz and Ashten Harrigan both had doubles with Pomerantz earning an RBI. Ryan Floyd had a hit and an RBI, and Paris Mederios, Taylor Reed and CJ Bish also had hits. McKenna Lewis also had an RBI.

Ryan Floyd suffered the loss, working four innings. She struck out seven batters, but gave up 12 hits, including four home runs. McKenna Lewis pitched the final two innings, striking out four and walking two

Coach Nicolosi admits he wasn't sure what went wrong that game.

"I don't know if having to finish yesterday's game and losing it had an influence on the girls," he said. "This is, by far, the poorest performance of the year for us, and we were beat in every facet of the game today. Skyview was prepared to play today and we were not.

"When you face a team that is hitting the ball like Skyview hit... the only thing you can do is match them with the bat, and we fell short of doing that today," the coach added. "This is the type of game that will test the character of this team."

The Lady Tigers fall to 0-7 on the season and 0-3 in conference play. They are back in conference play this week, traveling to Bishop Kelly on Tuesday, hosting Middleton on Thursday, and traveling to Middleton on Friday. They are back home April 14 against Kuna.

"With Bishop Kelly and Middleton next week, two of the conference's top teams, we have to hope that the girls will learn from this and do what it takes to improve," Coach Nicolosi said. "The coaching staff feels like we have the leaders and girls to succeed, and I'm sure of one thing -- they won't quit."

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