Homecoming week at Mountain Home will wrap up with the annual MHHS Athletic Hall of Honor Banquet, and one team from the past is usually chosen for enshrinement each year. However, two teams will be inducted for the Class of 2022 as the state championship softball teams from 2008 and 2010 will both be honored.
Dell Leonard was the head softball coach during that era, and he says he is proud to know both teams will be enshrined this weekend.
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Leonard says before the 2008 championship, the Lady Bombers had already been inching toward being a top five team in the state. He says the addition of Shelby Anderson in the circle was just what they needed.
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The 2008 regular season ended with the first ever fast-pitch conference title for Mountain Home, and a couple of weeks later, they came away with a 2-0 victory Marion in the state title game. Anderson pitched a complete game, struck out 11 batters and gave up four hits. Alex Osmon drove in Mountain Home’s first run with a two-out hit up the middle, sending Bethaney Brown home. The Lady Bombers scored again in the third when Domino Miller crossed the plate off a base hit by Kaitlin Marshall.
Two years later, the Lady Bombers won their third straight conference title and advanced to the state championship game to meet Benton, the team that beat them in the state semifinals in 2009. Before the game, Anderson injured her back from the team’s celebration of the previous win over Lake Hamilton. She didn’t practice the week leading up to the final, and she was 80% at best before the game started. However, Mountain Home exploded for a six-run second inning after RBI singles from Anderson, Shelby Upshaw and Lexy Thomas and a bases-clearing double from Abby Molenhouse. Anderson added an RBI double in the sixth, and Miranda Manchester added a two-run double that nearly cleared the right field fence. The Lady Bombers went on to win 9-3.
Leonard says not only was he proud of the team’s athletic abilities, but he also remembers how they were just as people.
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Both softball teams will be honored during the MHHS Athletic Hall of Honor Banquet Saturday in the high school cafeteria. The reception begins at noon, and the banquet and lunch will be an hour later. For tickets, contact the Mountain Home athletic office at 870-425-1285.
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