ROGERS -- The girl can pitch, too.
Sophomore McKennah Sikes threw a three-hit shutout to lead Van Buren to a 2-0 victory over Bentonville on Friday in the Class 7A state tournament at Veterans Park. The shutout came one day after Sikes had two home runs and five RBI in an 11-1 victory over Fort Smith Southside.
Van Buren 2, Bentonville 0
Van Buren^001^000^1^—^2^9^1
Bentonville^000^000^0^—^0^3^0
Sikes and Miles; Prough and Cornell W- Sikes L - Prough HRs - None.
Sikes struck out five, walked one, and hit two batters against a Bentonville team that finished second in the 7A-West Conference.
"McKennah was great," Van Buren coach Andy Williams said. "She hit her spots and they could never get the barrel of the bat her pitches."
Williams made a strategic move by placing Tori Stafford, who pitched Thursday, at third base. The strategy paid off when Stafford led Van Buren's defensive play with stellar fielding plays at third base. Bentonville put a runner on base in the seventh before Stafford, a Tulsa signee, fielded a grounder and threw to first to end the game.
Van Buren (24-4) was clinging to a 1-0 lead when the Lady Pointers added an insurance run in the top of the seventh. Caroline Davis reached on an error and scored on a double by Breanna Vest into the gap in right field. Vest finished with three hits to lead Van Buren.
"Fortunately, we had good speed on first base with Davis," said Williams, who was aggressive in waving the runner home with no outs. "Breanna was 3 for 4 and I was the dumb one when I had her bunting one time. I should've had her swinging all the way."
Van Buren took a 1-0 lead in the third after Vest hit a one-out single and Ashton Sangster followed with a double. Emilee Aaron then fouled off several pitches before delivering a sacrifice fly to center field to put the Lady Pointers ahead.
Bentonville (22-7), which received a first-round bye, was held to three singles by Sikes and put more than one runner on base only in the second inning.
"We didn't get any breaks, offensively, and they made some great plays," Bentonville coach Kent Early said. "We started four freshman, and five in some games, so our future is bright. We just got to go back to work."
Sports on 05/16/2015