FAYETTEVILLE -- Rogers High got a true test from Fayetteville on Friday, but remained perfect in the 7A-West Conference softball race thanks to a 14-hit effort and strong relief pitching from Maddie Massanelli.
The Lady Mounties (14-3, 6-0 7A-West) were stuck in a back and forth battle with Fayetteville through the first three innings. But Rogers showed off its consistent bats as the game wore on, scoring in all but two innings on the night to pull away for a 7-4 win at Lady'Dawg Yard.
Prep Softball
Rogers High 7, Fayetteville 4
Rogers High^022^011^1^—^7^14^1
Fayetteville^121^000^0^—^4^10^2
Zimmerman, Massanelli (4) and Kinney; Mabry, Pool (4) and Luetkmeyer. W - Massanelli. L - Pool. HR - none.
"We hit the ball up and down the lineup," Rogers coach Mike Harper said. "We've got to put more runs on the board. We had our chances and left runners on base a couple of times.
"So we just need to play better and come out and play with more energy."
Massanelli, who relieved starting pitcher Haylee Zimmermann in the fourth inning, also made sure the Fayetteville offense was put to a halt. After the Lady Bulldogs scored four runs on seven hits in the first three innings, they managed just three hits over the last four innings against Massanelli.
"We played good defense," Harper said. "We had the one error but overall we played good in the field and made some good plays."
Despite the loss, there were some positives for Fayetteville, which had been struggling a bit as of late. Freshman second baseman Anna Koch had three hits, and the Lady Bulldogs (5-6, 1-3) played a fairly clean game in the field except for a brief breakdown in the sixth inning.
"Our kids battled their tails off, (Rogers) just made a few more plays," Lady Bulldogs coach Jason Shirey said. "I've got nothing to fault with our kids' effort. If we come out and compete like that every night and play well defensively, we can play with anyone in the league.
"That's the thing for us is being able to do that consistently."
Allyn Hensley led Rogers with three hits, two runs and an RBI and Callie King, Emily Kinney and Ashlyn Lang each added two hits in the victory.
"As the conference goes on it's good to get a game like this," Harper said. "We know they'll be tough games and we just need to continue to play better."
Rogers hosts Springdale High on Tuesday and Fayetteville visits Bentonville on Tuesday.
Vernon Tarver can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @nwavernon.
Sports on 04/11/2015