BENTONVILLE -- Haley Cornell and Anna Griffin combined for three home runs and drove in all but one run as Bentonville rolled to a 7-0 victory over Rogers Heritage in 7A-West Conference softball action Tuesday at the Tiger Athletic Complex.
The Lady Tigers (21-5, 11-2 7A-West) honored their seniors on their final game, but it was two freshmen that had the highlights. Cornell belted home runs on her first two at-bats, while Griffin added a two-run single and a solo home run.
7A-West Conference
Bentonville 7, Rogers Heritage 0
Heritage^000^000^0^—0^4^2
Bentonville^420^010^X^—7^6^1
Donohoe, Pollock (1) and Garcia; Prough and Cornell. W-Prough, 16-4. L-Donohoe, 7-5. Sv-None. HR-Bentonville, Cornell 2 (4), Griffin (2).
"We had two freshmen responsible for three home runs," Bentonville coach Kent Early said. "Cornell had good at-bats and made good contact. She didn't miss, so it's a good day for her."
Cornell sparked a four-run outburst with two out in the first inning when she belted a shot over the scoreboard in left-center field off Heritage starter Dasha Donohoe, who failed to make it through the first inning. That was all the cushion Bentonville sophomore pitcher Maddy Prough (16-4) needed as she threw a complete-game four-hitter.
Cornell, however, wasn't finished. She then belted a two-run home run -- her fourth of the season -- well over the center-field fence in the second and gave Bentonville a 6-0 cushion.
"She did the same thing at Benton," Early said of Cornell's blast off the scoreboard. "She hit one off the video board, and the screen went blank."
Griffin added to Bentonville's four-run first when her single to right-center drove in two runs and eventually caused Heritage (15-7, 9-4) to make a pitching change. Sarah Pollock relieved Donohoe at that point and allowed Cornell's two-run homer in the second, then gave up Griffin's solo blast to left-center in the fifth.
The Lady War Eagles did have a couple of scoring threats with runners reaching second and third. Prough, however, forced Heritage hitters to hit fly balls on the infield to end the inning.
"You can look at the scoreboard, and it don't matter what inning you looked at," Heritage coach Tiffany Taylor said. "We didn't score any runs. We just weren't hitting, and that happens. We couldn't connect and make anything happen."
Both teams close out conference play with road games Thursday as Bentonville travels to Fayetteville and Heritage heads to Springdale Har-Ber.
Sports on 05/06/2015