ROGERS — Rogers Heritage played its best when it mattered most Monday night.
Needing a win against crosstown rival Rogers High to extend the season to the Class 7A Softball State Tournament, the Lady War Eagles delivered with a 4-0 victory over the Lady Mounties. The win pushes Heritage into the state tournament as the No. 6 seed from the 7A/6A-West Conference where they will play the No. 3 seed from the 7A-Central on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. in Springdale.
Rogers Heritage 4, Rogers High 0
Heritage 002 011 0 4 9 0
Rogers 000 000 0 0 6 1
Donahoe and Newton; Zimmerman and Meadors. W — Donahoe. L — Zimmerman. HRs — Heritage, Donahoe.
“I told our kids that their backs were against the wall and I asked them, ‘What are you going to do,’” Heritage coach Tiffany Taylor said. “They came out fighting, and I am proud of them. It was a huge win.”
Rogers (16-10, 10-4) is also bound for the state tournament.
Heritage pitcher Dasha Donahoe worked out of several early jams to go the distance for the victory. Donahoe scattered six hits and struckout two while being backed up by an error-free Lady War Eagles effort. Donahoe also helped her own cause with a solo home run that upped the Heritage lead to 4-0 in the top of the sixth inning.
“Dasha pitched great, and that is what we needed,” Taylor said. “Rogers had already beaten us twice this year and they are a good ballclub. That was huge.”
Kaitlyn Tumey gave Heritage an early 2-0 lead with a two-out, two-RBI single in the third inning while Taylor Easley followed a double by Kenzie Ziem with an RBI single for a 3-0 lead in the fourth. Ziem finished 3-for-4.
“Huge two-run single,” Taylor said. “That got us on the board early and that gave us the momentum to keep going.”
Rogers put the leadoff runner aboard in the first, second, fourth and sixth innings but the Lady Mounties could never come up with a key hit. Jennifer Gonzalez had two singles for Rogers but the Lady Mounties left six runners stranded.
“We had some opportunities early in the game, but we couldn’t get the big hit,” Rogers coach Mike Harper said. “That totally changed the game around. But give credit to Heritage, they played great. It was more about them winning than us losing.”
Taylor said playing error-free baseball was another key to the victory.
“For our kids to step up and get out of those innings, that was big time,” Taylor said.