BENTONVILLE -- Bentonville clinched a share of a conference championship by beating its closest competitor in the 7A-West.
Haley Cornell hit a home run and McKenzie Vaughan had a key, two-run double to lead Bentonville to a 4-1 victory over Rogers Thursday in 7A-West action at the Bentonville Athletic Complex. Bentonville (24-2, 12-0) remained undefeated in conference play with two games remaining.
7A-West softball standings
^Conf.^All
Bentonville^12-0^24-2
Rogers High^10-2^17-9
Bentonville West^10-2^21-6
Rogers Heritage^6-6^15-10
Van Buren^3-7^11-11
Springdale Har-Ber^3-9^9-14
Springdale High^1-10^5-15
Fayetteville^1-11^1-15
Thursday’s Results
Bentonville 4, Rogers High 1
Bentonville West 7, Rogers Heritage 0
Springdale Har-Ber 11, Fayetteville 7
Springdale at Van Buren
The Lady Tigers will earn the title outright with a win next week over Rogers Heritage or Bentonville West. Rogers (17-9, 10-2) fell into a second-place with Bentonville West, which beat Rogers Heritage on Thursday.
"We had a rocky start, but Vaughan got a big, two-out hit and we were able to score two runs," Bentonville coach Kent Early said. "Speed is one of biggest assets and we were able to score from first and second on a ball hit down the left-field line."
Cornell slammed a home run and Jenna Wildeman hit a triple in the fifth inning for Bentonville, which outhit Rogers 8-4. Cailey Cochran struck out 11 in seven innings to improve to 18-1 on the season.
"(Cochran) threw strikes and did her job in the circle," Early said. "I would've liked to have seen some more first-pitch strikes, but she's been balling all year long."
Rogers took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on a triple by Journee Zito followed by an RBI groundout from Madison Heinle. It was the first run in three games again Bentonville, which beat Rogers 3-0 in a tournament game and 9-0 in league play earlier this season.
Rogers' lead lasted only until the third inning when Bentonville scored three runs on three hits. The big hit came off the bat of Vaughan, who lined a two-run double to left field with two outs. Keelah Griffith then slapped a hit to right field to give the Lady Tigers a 3-1 lead.
Rogers placed runners at third and first in the fourth inning after the umpires reversed a call and ruled a throw from short to first base had pulled Megan Crownover off the bag. But Cochran returned to the circle and got Courtney Storey on an easy fly ball to left field to end the inning.
Rogers^010^000^0-- ^1^4^2
Bentonville^003^011^4^8^1
Cochran and Cornell. Beeman, M. Heinle (4) and W. Storey. W -- Cochran. L -- Beeman
Bentonville West 7, Rogers Heritage 0
Hallie Wacaser went 2-for-3 with two home runs and drove in three runs to lead the Lady Wolverines to the 7A-Wext Conference win Thursday at Veterans Park.
Wacaser hit a two-run shot shot in the first inning and added a solo blost in the fifth. She now has 10 homers on the season. Sydney Sneed and Emily Roberson drove in two runs each, while Jaszmine Dodd added two hits and two runs scored for the Lady Wolverines (21-6, 10-2 7A-West).
Emma Wood picked up the win, holding Heritage scoreless despite giving up eight hits over seven innings. She struck out nine and did not walk a batter.
Sydney Price and Lora Brown had two hits each for the Lady War Eagles (15-10, 6-6).
Preps Basketball on 04/27/2018