Fayetteville Falls To Rogers Heritage

 STAFF PHOTO JASON IVESTER Dasha Donahoe of Rogers Heritage delivers a pitch against Fayetteville on Tuesday at Veterans Park in Rogers.
STAFF PHOTO JASON IVESTER Dasha Donahoe of Rogers Heritage delivers a pitch against Fayetteville on Tuesday at Veterans Park in Rogers.

— Rogers Heritage and Fayetteville didn't play the cleanest defensive game Tuesday. But the Lady War Eagles made the most of the Lady Bulldogs' mistakes to come away with a 6-3 win in 7A/6A-West Conference softball action at Veterans Park.

"We took advantage of some of their miscues, and that was good to see," Rogers Heritage coach Tiffany Taylor said. "That shows that we're maturing on our end as a team. Being able to take an extra base, or have another hitter come up and get another hit for us, something like that is always good."

Prep Softball

7A/6A-West Conference

Rogers Heritage 6, Fayetteville 3

Fayetteville^010^002^0 —^3^5^3

Heritage^112^200^X ^—^6^8^5

Pool and Luekemeyer; Donahoe and Newton. W - Donahoe. L - Pool, 3-3. HR - none.

The Lady War Eagles (5-4, 2-1 7A/6A-West) pressed the issue on the bases all night long, and therefore kept the pressure on the Fayetteville defense. A run in the bottom of the first for Heritage came by way of a stolen base, a passed ball and RBI groundout. Then in the next inning, Abby Newton led off with a single and Taylor Easley reached on an error. Sydney Lehr followed with an RBI single after another stolen base had moved the runner into scoring position.

Fayetteville (7-5, 1-1) had just five hits against Heritage starter Dasha Donahoe and couldn't keep things close after an early run in the second. The Lady Bulldogs had a golden opportunity to close a 2-1 gap in the top of the third, but Emma Koch was thrown out trying to score to end the inning.

Heritage would then break things open, getting a two-run single from Donahoe in the bottom of the third and a key two-run pinch-hit double from Sabrina Garcia in the fourth to extend the lead to 6-1.

"Sabrina went up there and did exactly what we asked her to do," Taylor said. "She came up cold off the bench, and that's not easy to do."

Pool allowed just two earned runs on eight hits in six innings for Fayetteville and was 1-for-2 with a walk at the plate. "Errors and not swinging the bats cost us in this game," Pool said. "But I feel like that will come with more experience."

Fayetteville did close to within 6-3, getting two unearned runs of its own in the sixth. But Donahoe settled down and got the Lady Bulldogs quickly in the seventh, working around a leadoff single by Taylor Crockett with a game-ending double play to seal the win.

Heritage hosts Springdale High on Thursday and Fayetteville visits Rogers High.

Sports on 04/02/2014

Upcoming Events