ROGERS -- A batter must be awfully dangerous to receive an intentional walk to load the bases with no outs.
That's the fear McKennah Sikes put in Fort Smith Southside on Thursday in the first round of the Class 7A state tournament.
Van Buren 11, Fort Smith Southside 1 (5 innings)
FS Southside^100^00^—^1^4^1
Van Buren^520^31^—^11^9^0
Hall and Hogue; Stafford and Miles. W - Stafford. L - Hogue. HRs - Sikes 2 (5).
Sikes hit two home runs and drove in five to lead Van Buren to an 11-1 victory over Southside in a first-round game at Veterans Park. Sikes received an intentional walk to load the bases in the fourth inning after she hit home runs in her first two at-bats. She hammered a three-run to center field in the first and followed with a two-run home run to right-center in the second inning.
The Lady Pointers continued to score and ended the game in five innings via the 10-run mercy rule. Van Buren (23-4) advanced to play Bentonville in a second-round game at 10 a.m. today.
Sikes walked twice after hitting her fourth and fifth home runs of the season.
"McKenna has been hitting line drive after line drive, about to kill people," Van Buren coach Andy Williams said of the sophomore infielder. "She wasn't getting any elevation. Today, she got elevation and knocked two out of the park."
Van Buren scored five runs in the first inning after Southside (17-13) scored its only run in the top of the inning. Baylor Miles had an RBI double and Haley Hogan an RBI single for the Lady Pointers, who ended the game on an RBI single by Emilee Aaron in the fifth inning.
Lindsey Eveld accounted for Southside's only run with an RBI single in the first after Madison Hill led off with a single.
"Van Buren is probably the best team we've faced all year," Southside coach Casey Story said. "So, you pretty much have to come out and play perfect ball and we had some mistakes. But the girls did a good job of not rolling over after that first inning."
Van Buren turned its attention to today's game against Bentonville, the No. 2 seed from the 7A-West.
"Bentonville finished second in the West, which means they're good," Williams said. "They're going to put the ball in play and make your team play defense. It's going to be a great match."
Rick Fires can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWARick.
Sports on 05/15/2015