ROGERS — The situation heading into the sixth inning was all too familiar for Rogers High.
In its win against Fayetteville on Thursday night, the Lady Mounties found themselves in the same position as the last time the two softball teams faced off.
In the first 7A/6A-West Conference meeting back on March 28, Rogers held a 2-1 lead until the sixth rolled around. But a three-run inning from Fayetteville proved to be too much to overcome, and the Lady Mounties fell to the Lady Bulldogs.
This time, Rogers held off Fayetteville in dramatic fashion to win the 7A/6A West conference matchup, 2-1.
With two outs and the tying run on second in the top of the seventh, Rogers pitcher Haylee Zimmerman struck out the final Fayetteville batter.
“I was going to make sure I got those outs this time,” Zimmerman said.
With the win and Bentonville’s loss against Rogers Heritage on Thursday, the Lady Mounties (15-9, 8-3) stand alone in second place, just one game behind first-place Fayetteville (16-5, 8-2).
“It was a great win for us,” Zimmerman said. “It puts us in the running for the conference championship.”
However, regardless of the win, Zimmerman acknowledged that moving forward, a more potent offense is necessary if the team intends to win the conference.
Neither team produced much at the plate on Thursday, with the only runs coming in the third inning.
The Lady Bulldogs scored first when pitcher Ashlye Pool hit a sacrifice fly to the outfield to score their only run.
Rogers responded in the bottom of the inning with a triple off the right-field fence from Chandler Little, which scored the tying run. Little then tagged up and made it safely home on a sacrifice fly.
“It was a good game, but we just didn’t take advantage of the opportunities we had,” Fayetteville coach Jason Shirey said. “One inning got us.”
ROGERS 2, FAYETTEVILLE 1
Fayetteville^001^000^0^—^1^5^1
Rogers^002^000^x^—^2^6^2
A. Pool and Benjumea; Zimmerman and Kinney. W - Zimmerman, 12-5. L - A. Pool, 12-2. HRs – None.