BENTONVILLE — Bentonville celebrated Senior Night on Friday, but a couple of Rogers High underclassmen spoiled the celebration.
Chandler Little, a junior, hit a three-run, inside-the-park home run, and sophomore pitcher Haylee Zimmerman retired 10 of the last 11 Lady Tigers she faced as Rogers defeated Bentonville, 4-3, in a 7A/6A-West Conference softball game at the Tiger Athletic complex.
The win snapped a two-game conference losing streak by Rogers and thrusts the Lady Mounties (13-8, 7-3) into a second-place tie with the Lady Tigers (13-6, 6-3) in the loss column.
“It was a great, inspired win by the girls,” Rogers coach Mike Harper said. “The girls really wanted this one bad. They showed great effort, great heart. We played better and acted like we wanted to be here.”
Rogers took control with three runs in the third inning. Ryan Vaughn started the inning by reaching after being hit by a pitch and leadoff batter Jennifer Gonzalez then followed with a bunt single. Kylan Hensley then advanced both runners with a sacrifice bunt before Little ripped a shot into the right-center gap that gave Rogers a 4-2 lead.
“Chandler has speed to burn on that,” Harper said. “Once it got out there, I sent her home because they were going to have to make a play. I thought the bunts and the sacrifices were big.”
Bentonville cut the lead to 4-3 in the bottom of the third on an RBI single by Alicia Lowery. But Zimmerman (11-4) only gave up two hits the rest of the way and she retired eight straight before giving up a one-out walk in the seventh. Zimmerman also helped her own cause by scoring on a wild pitch after being hit by a pitch in the second inning.
“Haylee hit her spots inside and out,” Harper said. “If you can do that against Bentonville, that’s great.”
Bentonville finished with seven hits and left five runners stranded. Rogers also threw out Emma Kinsey at the plate in the second inning after Anna Thomas hit a double to left fi eld.
“Rogers put the ball in play and we didn’t execute,” Bentonville coach Kent Early said. “But that is softball. We have to be able to execute offensively and defensively. We just came up short.”
Rogers 013 000 0 — 4 5 2 Bentonville 021 000 0 — 3 7 2
Zimmerman and Kinney; Graham and Fears. W - Zimmerman, 11-4. L - Graham, 2-3. HRs - Rogers, Little (2).