ROGERS -- Rogers Heritage enjoyed a little twinge of deja vu on the way to a win over its crosstown rival in 7A-West Conference softball on Tuesday evening.
Alexa Enos' ground ball scored Baleigh Birdcreek from third base with the game's only run for a 1-0 win in the bottom of the eighth inning at Veterans Park.
Rogers Heritage 1, Rogers High 0
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Heritage^000^000^01^—^1^4^0
McManus and Edwards; Pollock and Enos. W-Pollock. L-Mamanus.
The result was eerily similar to the game a little more than a month earlier played across the parking lot at the Lady Mounties' field. The lone difference was Heritage scored in the top of the eighth and held Rogers in the bottom of the inning.
Both Heritage coach Tiffany Taylor and Rogers coach Mike Harper agreed the difference was again execution.
"We had base runners several times, they had base runners a few times," Harper said. "They executed at the end and we did not. We've got to do a better job of that. It's not like we don't work on. I've got to do a better job coaching. We've got to practice it in more pressure situations."
Taylor was proud of her team's strong fundamental play.
"We've been working on just giving the extra efforts for balls, getting the bunts down," Taylor said. "Little things and man they did it all night. I saw them giving the extra effort. They made the plays."
The Lady War Eagles (15-6, 8-1 7A-West) got down a key bunt in the eighth, while Rogers did not just like in the earlier game.
The inning started with Birdcreek at second under the international tiebreaker. Lindsay Glynn put down the sacrifice bunt to move Birdcreek to third and Enos ended it with a ground ball up the middle.
In the top of the eighth, Rogers (15-6, 6-3) fouled off a bunt attempt. Heritage pitcher Sarah Pollock then notched back-to-back strikeouts and got Maddie Massanelli to foul out to the catcher.
Pollock was strong in the circle for Heritage, allowing just two singles, while striking out 14. The sophomore walked five, but worked out of trouble each time. Rogers had runners at the corners with one out in the third and two on with nobody out in the fourth, but came up empty each time.
Freshman Alex McManus took the complete-game loss for Rogers, despite allowing just a run on four hits. She struck out six, walked two and hit a batter.
Bentonville 19, Fort Smith Northside 0
Maddy Prough struck out all nine Northside batters she faced for a three-inning perfect game, and every Bentonville batter had at least one hit in the Lady Tigers' rout at the Tiger Athletic Complex.
Prough (11-1) threw only 40 pitches, 29 of them for strikes, and had only one 3-2 count.
The Lady Tigers (18-1, 9-0) matched their best start in school history and their best start in conference history with the win. Bentonville scored six in the first inning and erupted for 13 more in the second.
Four different Lady Tigers -- Megan Crownover, Jenna Wildeman, Payton Wildeman and Jordan Gartman -- enjoyed three-hit games. Gartman and Shayli Martin each drove in three runs, while the two Wildemans, Gartman and CJ Gonzalez each scored three runs.
Sports on 04/20/2016