CENTERTON -- It was the opportunity Tymber Riley didn't expect to get, and one she didn't let get away Tuesday afternoon.
The senior gave Bentonville High the lead for good when she belted a two-strike, two-out single past third and into left field, and the Lady Tigers remained unbeaten in 7A-West Conference play with a 10-3 victory over Bentonville West at the Wolverine Athletic Complex.
Bentonville^020^321^2^—^10^12^0
West^201^000^0^—^3^5^5
Cochran and Cornell; Wood and Holt. W-Cochran, 14-1. L-Wood. HR-None.
7A-West Softball Standings
Conference^Overall
Bentonville High^7-0^18-2
Rogers High^5-1^11-7
Bentonville West^3-2^13-6
Van Buren^3-2^11-6
Rogers Heritage^3-3^9-6
Springdale Har-Ber^2-4^8-9
Fayetteville^1-6^1-9
Springdale High^0-6^3-11
Tuesday’s Results
Bentonville 10, Bentonville West 3
Rogers Heritage 9, Springdale Har-Ber 5
Van Buren 11, Fayetteville 1
Rogers 3, Farmington 2
Thursday’s Games
Bentonville at Fayetteville
Van Buren at Bentonville West
Springdale Har-Ber at Rogers
Rogers Heritage at Springdale
"Tymber came up with the bases loaded, and that hit broke the game open," Bentonville coach Kent Early said. "We were able to get ahead of their hitters, and defensively we made some plays that got us out of innings quick.
"It's a credit to those kids because they were the ones that balled out."
West (13-6, 3-2) owned a 3-2 lead after three innings as Endya Moler dropped a two-out bunt toward third, and pinch-runner Carlee Durham raced home ahead of the throw. Bentonville, however, tied the game in the fourth when Katelyn Harris -- whose two-out single in the second tied the game at 2 -- did it again and scored Morgan Nelson.
Riley Hays kept the inning with a bunt single, then Jenna Wildeman hit a grounder to shortstop Hallie Wacaser, who flipped to third for the force out. That throw, however, was dropped, and that set the stage for Riley, who connected on a 2-2 pitch and drove in the go-ahead runs for a 5-3 Bentonville lead.
"Getting up there with two strikes, I knew my team trusted me to do the job," Riley said. "It makes it so much easier to be relaxed, get up there and hit the ball as hard as I can for my team.
"I knew how big it was for us. Honestly, I was just swinging for the fence and trying to hit it as hard as I could. I mean, I hit it as hard as I could. I'm OK with the result."
Once Bentonville had that lead, Cailey Cochran (14-1) made it stand. The junior right-hander overcame control problems early in the game and retired 13 of the last 14 batters she faced, with the only West player to reach was Hallie Wacaser with a double off the left-field fence.
Meanwhile, the fourth-inning miscue became one of five made by West during the game, and Bentonville made the Lady Wolverines pay for each one. The Lady Tigers scored two runs in the fifth and again in the seventh after West committed an error.
"We made some errors -- untimely errors -- against a good team," said West coach Anthony Cantrell, whose team suffered its third straight loss. "Man, you just can't errors like that. You have to be able to field ground balls and catch pop flies. When you give a team like that six or seven outs, it snowballs on you.
"We jumped out and did what we needed to do and got a little momentum going. The game just switched behind a couple of errors."
Rogers High 3, Farmington 2
The Mounties scored two runs in the fourth inning, aided by a Lady Cardinals error, and made it stand up for the narrow non conference win.
Madison Heinle drove in a run with a single to tie the game 2-2, but Rogers (11-7) took the lead thanks to a Farmington error.
Courtney Storey went 3-for-4, drove in a run and scored one for the Lady Mounties. Heinle picked up the win in the circle, allowing two runs (one earned) on three hits over five innings. She struck out eight and did not walk a batter.
Elise Sokolsky picked got the save with two scoreless innings in relief.
McKenzi Bogan hit a solo home run for Farmington, but took the loss in the circle. She allowed three runs (one earned) on seven hits over four innings
Rogers Heritage 9, Springdale Har-Ber 5
Sydney Price went 3-for-4, drove in two runs and scored twice to help the Lady War Eagles hold off the Lady Wildcats in 7A-West softball.
Heritage (9-6) scored three runs in the bottom of the third inning to snap a 2-2 tie and went on to the win. Sarah Pollock also went 3-for-3 and picked up the win in the circle. She allowed five runs (four earned) on 13 hits over seven innings, while striking out nine and walking five.
Allyson Fultz also hit a three-run home run in the fifth inning.
Abi Scott went 4-for-5 and also hit a solo home run for Har-Ber.
Van Buren 11, Fayetteville 1
Van Buren scored seven runs in the second inning and went on to defeat the Lady Bulldogs.
Van Buren collected 11 hits while holding Fayetteville to three hits. Both teams made one error.
Preps Basketball on 04/11/2018