ROGERS -- Rogers High is starting to peak at the right time.
Freshman pitcher Maddy Prough turned in a solid pitching performance and the Rogers offense recorded 15 hits as the Lady Mounties defeated Springdale High 10-0 in a 7A/6A-West Conference softball game at Veterans Park on Thursday.
7A/6A-West Conference
Rogers High 10, Springdale High 0
Springdale^000^000^ —^0^3^1
Rogers^301^303^ —^10^15^0
Baldwin and Bradley; Prough and Kinney. W — Prough. L — Baldwin. HRs — None
Rogers (9-8, 5-2) has won five straight games and seven of its last eight. Rogers, which advanced to the Class 7A State Championship game last season, has won its last four conference games.
"We are just trying to build towards the state tournament," Rogers coach Mike Harper said. "It's great to play at home, but we have to keep it up so we can get the best seed that we can."
Prough (1-3) had logged just 19 innings on the mound entering the game, but the freshman was sharp from the get-go. She gave up just one hit the first five innings and three for the game while finishing with seven strikeouts and just one walk. Kelcee Thompson had two of the Lady Bulldogs' (7-10, 1-6) hits with a pair of singles. Chasidee Owens added a double.
Prough said ending the second inning with two-straight strikeouts was a confidence booster in what was her longest outing of the year.
"I didn't want to let my team down, so I tried to stay calm," Prough said. "The last few games I hadn't pitched that well, and getting those strikeouts made me feel better about the way I was pitching. My teammates backed me up really well."
Harper said he started Prough to give her some conference starting experience, and give some rest to regular starter Haylee Zimmerman. Rogers hosts Fayetteville at 5 p.m. today in a conference game that was rained out earlier this month.
"Maddy had been struggling a little bit and I thought we would give her a start and work her into it a little bit," Harper said. "I thought she did a good job out there, and she hit her spots throughout the game. She threw hard. I also wanted to save Haylee for the Fayetteville game. You can never have enough pitching, and we are trying to build depth."
Jennifer Gonzalez, Chandler Little and Zimmerman had three hits each for the Lady Mounties. Gonzalez had a triple while Zimmerman and Callie King hit doubles for the Lady Mounties.
"I was glad that we finished the game in the sixth inning," Harper said. "We hit the ball pretty well in the middle of the lineup, top five or six. The girls that need to hit are coming through in the clutch. When you get timely hitting, you have a chance to win every game."
Sports on 04/18/2014