CENTERTON -- On a day more suited to winter sports, Cierra Cravens shined at the plate and in the circle for Bentonville West.
Cravens allowed just two hits in a complete-game win with eight strikeouts and drove in three runs at the plate as the Lady Wolverines (6-0, 2-0 6A-West) run-ruled Springdale High on Thursday afternoon. It was West's second straight run-rule win to open conference play.
A chilly 42-degree day that also included a light rain and a strong north wind was no factor in slowing Cravens and West down.
"She was pounding the strike zone," said West coach Anthony Cantrell of Cravens. "It's hard on a pitcher out there today because it's cold and it's hard to field a ball. Her change-up, we didn't really throw it a lot because she didn't feel have a feel for it. She did what she's supposed to do, pitch to contact and we have to make a few more plays."
West committed four errors in the game including an error on Springdale's Tori Hennaricks' ground ball to open the game. Hennaricks reached on the error and scored on an RBI single by Morgan Thompson for a 1-0 Red'Dogs lead in the first inning.
That was it for the Red'Dogs (0-9, 0-2). Cravens sat Springdale down in order in the second and fifth, and allowed just one walk over the rest of the way. The Red'Dogs got three more baserunners on via West errors, an area Cantrell said will need to be cleaned up.
"We've got to shore it up on defense a little bit," said Cantrell, whose team will complete in the Farmington tournament this weekend. "And we need to figure out how to string some more hits together. Right now we'll have a hit or two, but we're not stringing things together. We have to do a better job of that."
West put up three runs in the bottom of the first. Carlee Durham, who was 2-for-5 on the day with a pair of RBIs, laid down a bunt single to start the inning and came around to tie the score at 1-1. Sarah Cooper walked and scored and Marybeth Dyson also touched the dish.
The Lady Wolverines added two more runs in the third and put the game away with five runs in the bottom of the sixth.
Leading 6-1, West opened the sixth with a single just inside the first-base bag by Sarah Cooper. Cooper stole second. After Dyson singled, Caroline Wilhelm singled to drive in a pair of runs and an 8-1 lead. Wilhelm had three RBIs on the day for West.
Cravens followed with a two-out triple and Durham ended the game by grounding a two-run single between first and second base to cap the run-rule win.
"That was big for Cierra to come in and help herself out there in the sixth," said Cantrell. "We were swinging it pretty good and were disciplined at the plate.
"Springdale did a good job tonight. We hit some balls right on the nose right at them and they caught the ball, and put the ball in play. They did a really good job tonight."