BRYANT -- Maddy Prough admitted she felt a few butterflies before Saturday's Class 7A state softball semifinal game against Rogers High.
They sure didn't show much.
Bentonville 3, Rogers High 0
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Massenelli and Edwards; Prough and Cornell. W-Prough, 19-0. L-Massanelli. HRs-Bentonville Roberson (1).
The Bentonville junior allowed just three hits and struck out 13 to lead the Lady Tigers to a 3-0 win over the Lady Mounties on Saturday at Bryant High School.
"I started off a little rough, but I got comfortable with what was going on," Prough said. "I think the nerves of the situation, the semifinals. But I just tried to go out there and play my best for my team."
Bentonville (29-1) will take on North Little Rock at 12:30 p.m. on Friday at Bogle Park in Fayetteville in the state finals.
Prough kept Rogers (20-10) off-stride at the plate all day. But Rogers starter Maddie Massanelli limited Bentonville just just four hits on the day, too. However, freshman Emily Roberson's pinch-hit, two-out, two-run home run broke the 0-0 tie in the bottom of the fifth and turned out to be all the Lady Tigers needed.
Bentonville coach Kent Early pinch hit Roberson, also looking for some pop on Friday against Bryant. She went 0 for 2 in the quarterfinal game, but came through big against Rogers.
C.J. Gonzalez drew a one-out walk in the fifth, but Keelah Griffth flied out. Roberson then drove a 1-2 pitch from Massanelli over the right-field fence for her first varsity homer of the season.
"The whole key is to have a plan and she did," Early said. "We were talking middle away, middle away. She doesn't get cheated in her swings much. We were hoping maybe we could get some good contact, get a ball in the gap, but she got a little bit more of it. We'll take it.
"She's only had about 15 or 20 at-bats in varsity, but she's torn it up in JV. We thought she was our best chance off the bench."
Bentonville added an insurance run on Tymber Riley's two-out, RBI single in the sixth, but Prough wouldn't need it.
Rogers put together back-to-back singles with one out in the seventh, but Prough struck out the final two hitters to end it.
Prough came through in a big situation like she's done all season, Early said.
"Like I said before players play," Early said. "She came up big. She made adjustments. It's hard to play somebody three times because everybody has scouting reports. So you've got to mix some things up and then you've got to stay true to your strengths, too. That's a credit to the kids."
Rogers did not get a batter past second base the entire game and managed to get a runner to second only twice. Prough just walked two in the complete-game effort.
Rogers coach Mike Harper said his team, the No. 4 seed from the West, battled hard, but just came up short against a strong opponent.
"I was proud of the way the girls competed," Harper said. "Even in the last inning, we put a couple on and continued to compete. Bentonville's a good team and should compete well in the finals. We started playing well, turning it around about three weeks ago. We played well today, just didn't hit the ball where they weren't."
North Little Rock 9, Fort Smith Southside 1
The Charging Wildcats jumped in front in the bottom of the first and that was all senior Lainey Necessary needed.
North Little Rock will try to win their fourth consecutive state title and eighth since Arkansas changed to fast-pitch softball in 1999.
Sydney Parr and Maddi Bobbitt, North Little Rock's first two hitters in the lineup, combined to go 6 for 7 with four RBIs and four runs scored to key the Charging Wildcats' 10-hit attack.
Parr went 3 for 3 out of the lead-off spot, scored three times and drove in a run. Bobbitt went 3 for 4 and drove in three runs. Reagan Sperling also drove in three for North Little Rock (21-8), the No. 2 seed out of the East.
Necessary picked up the complete-game win, allowing a run on five hits. She struck out one and walked two.
Hailey Hogue went 2 for 3 for Southside (25-7) and drove in the Lady Rebels' lone run.
Sports on 05/15/2016