FAYETTEVILLE — Bentonville got offense from up and down its lineup and another solid, near-perfect pitching effort inside the circle from Morgan Vaughan on Tuesday.
What the Lady Tigers didn't get was much resistance from the opposite dugout, as a five-run first inning appeared to take the wind completely out of Fayetteville's sails in an 11-0, run-rule win for Bentonville at Lady'Dawg Yard.
Prep Softball
7A/6A-West Conference
Bentonville 11, Fayetteville 0 (5)
Bentonville^524^00^ —^11^14^1
Fayetteville^000^00^ —^0^0^1
Vaughan and Fears; Pool, Mabry (1), Pool (3) and Luetkmeyer. W - Vaughan. L - Pool, 3-6. HRs - Bentonville, Lowrey.
"Morgan did a good job tonight and we played good defense behind her for the most part," Bentonville coach Kent Early said. "We did some things, we were disciplined at the plate and put the ball in play and put some pressure on them.
"And that's the name of the game."
Bentonville (11-2, 6-0 7A/6A-West) grabbed every ounce of the game's momentum right off the bat and never let go. The Lady Tigers sent 11 batters to the plate in the top of the first inning, scoring five runs on five hits to take early control.
Alicia Lowrey, who finished 2-for-3 with four RBIs, added a two-run home run in the second inning to extend Bentonville's lead to 7-0.
Four more runs in the third, aided by four singles from Emma Kinsey, Mackenzie Hardison, Lowrey and Claire Lacina, helped the Lady Tigers bust out to an 11-0 lead after just 2 1/2 innings.
"That's what good teams do. They got the lead and put their foot on the gas pedal," Fayetteville coach Jason Shirey said. "Their pitcher went out their with a big lead and challenged us in the strike zone and we didn't do anything with it.
"And it's just a failure on my part to not get the kids ready to compete."
As good as the Bentonville lineup was, collecting 14 hits, Vaughan was the equal in the circle. She allowed just five base runners in five innings and gave up no hits, surrendering just three walks, one hit by pitch and another runner who reached on a error.
Bentonville hosts Springdale Har-Ber on Thursday, and Fayetteville (7-10, 1-3) visits Van Buren on Thursday.
Sports on 04/16/2014