Bentonville High and Bentonville West have faced each other six times in softball over the past two seasons, which adds up to more meetings between those two teams than in any other sport involving the two schools that are just seven miles apart.
The seventh time around for Northwest Arkansas' newest rivalry happens this afternoon, and the stakes can't get any higher. The Class 7A state championship is on the line when the two teams square off in Benton, more than 200 miles away from either campus.
At a glance
BENTONVILLE WEST vs.
BENTONVILLE HIGH
WHEN 5:30 p.m. today
WHERE Benton High School
RECORDS Bentonville 29-3 overall, 13-1 7A-West; Bentonville West 25-6, 12-2.
SERIES Bentonville leads 5-1 overall, 2-1 this season. Bentonville won 2-1 in a tournament at Van Buren and 10-3 in a game at Centerton, while West’s win was a 10-5 decision to close out the regular season May 8 at Bentonville.
HOW THEY MADE IT HERE Both teams earned a first-round bye in the Class 7A state tournament. Bentonville, the top seed from the 7A-West, defeated North Little Rock 14-4 in the quarterfinals and Cabot 5-1 in the semifinals. West, the second seed, defeated Conway 6-0 in the quarterfinals and Bryant 3-2 in the semifinals.
PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS
Bentonville West Lady Wolverines
No. Player, Pos. Avg. R HR RBI SB
3 Jazmine Dodd, CF .396 44 1 14 11
1 Hallie Wacaser, SS .505 46 10 42 14
14 Honesty Holt, C .457 14 4 35 2
24 Anna Griffin, 1B .368 18 8 41 0
15 Ryen Rassi, LF .333 11 4 28 0
9 Endya Moler, RF .393 29 6 25 4
25 Sydney Sneed, DP .432 17 1 14 0
2 Brittany Crowson, 3B .193 9 0 9 0
10 Alyssa Cordell, 2B .431 27 4 18 1
Pitcher W-L IP H ER BB SO ERA
5 Emma Wood 22-6 1182/3 120 32 21 122 1.89
NOTABLE Carlee Durham serves as a courtesy runner when Holt reaches base and has pinch-hit when needed for Crowson when West wants to utilize another left-handed bat in the lineup. … Alyssa Sullins enters the games as a defensive specialist in left field when necessary. … Alex McManus, who saw her first action Saturday against Bryant, could fill in as a reliever for Wood while Crowson and Wacaser have also pitched at times.
Bentonville Lady Tigers
No. Player, Pos. Avg. R HR RBI SB
3 Jenna Wildeman, CF .579 51 1 30 43
12 Tymber Riley, 2B .513 43 8 50 11
9 Haley Cornell, C .430 14 12 45 0
11 Keelah Griffith, LF .430 32 6 31 6
5 McKenzie Vaughan, 3B .478 28 12 48 1
6 Morgan Nelson, SS .474 34 4 37 6
7 Megan Crownover, 1B .382 31 3 31 8
10 Katelyn Harris, DP .256 21 1 18 1
23 Riley Hayes, RF .545 28 0 8 11
Pitcher W-L IP H ER BB SO ERA
26 Cailey Cochran 22-2 132 2/3 73 21 33 207 1.11
NOTABLE Nicole Hendrix serves as the courtesy runner when Cornell reaches base. … Vaughan has also pitched at times when Cochran isn’t in the circle, while Nelson was the starting pitcher in one game.
"There's a familiarity there," Bentonville coach Kent Early said. "You know each other and know each other's players. It makes things kind of tough, honestly.
"But in the same sense, it's really no different. That's another team in the other dugout, and we have to do our jobs. If we take care of business, we'll be fine. If we don't, then we won't."
Bentonville (29-3) has the upper hand in state championship experience since the Lady Tigers seek their third consecutive state title while West (25-6) gets to compete in its first championship game in any sport since it opened in August 2016. But that doesn't mean the Lady Wolverines aren't tournament tested.
Emily Roberson, who hit a clutch home run as a freshman to help Bentonville reach the title game in 2016, is now a junior on West's team. Meanwhile, West seniors Anna Griffin, Brittany Crowson and Jazmine Dodd were also members of that Bentonville team and have tried to pass that experience to their younger teammates over the past few days.
"I've definitely tried to preach to them that they have to be competitive," Griffin said. "You have to know what's going on before it even happens. You have to be on your toes at all times, and you have to love the game. You have to come out and play like a kid."
Bentonville owns a 5-1 overall series lead, which began with a 7-0 victory on its home field last season. Since that first game, however, the games have been much more spirited and a lot more challenging.
The Lady Tigers continued their winning ways this spring with a 2-1 victory over West in a tournament game in Van Buren, thanks to Keelah Griffith's two-run home run in the fourth inning before time expired. Bentonville took a 10-3 victory in Centerton last month, but West returned the favor with a 10-5 victory last week and spoiled the Lady Tigers' shot at an unblemished conference mark.
"That first game we played at their place was the one time I could see it -- our kids were nervous," West coach Anthony Cantrell said. "We were in a situation where we didn't know what to do. But in the other games, they've been pretty tight ones.
"It's a cool atmosphere to me because it brings out the best in all our players. Our fans are now getting more used to it, and I think it's become a more healthy rivalry than it was at first. I like it being a healthy rivalry, and I hope it continues to get better."
Visions of a championship game before a packed crown at Bogle Park began to cross the mind of both teams once they earned semifinal victories last week in Cabot, with Bentonville taking a 5-1 win over the host team and West slipping past Bryant for a 3-2 victory. That ended when Arkansas earned the right to host an NCAA regional tournament, then alternate plans to play at Central Arkansas were squelched when the Conway school earned the right to host an NSIC regional.
While the venue may have changed, the excitement surrounding the game hasn't wavered. The seniors on both teams enjoy the thought of playing for a state championship in their final high school games, and having that game against their closest rival makes it even better.
"We've had the opportunity to win a state championship with them, then we won one last year," Griffith said. "Now we get to play against them, so it's really exciting."
Preps Basketball on 05/18/2018