SPRINGDALE -- One big inning has been Bentonville's driving force throughout its first two games in the Class 6A state baseball tournament.
The Tigers did it again Saturday afternoon, with little room to spare.
Bentonville was down to its last out when its offense came to life and scored six runs en route to a 7-3 semifinal victory over Springdale Har-Ber on the Wildcats' home field.
"These guys -- what a great three games," Bentonville Coach Todd Abbott said. "This is a special group. These guys love each other. The energy and the confidence was there throughout the entire game, even though we gave up those two runs.
"You could feel the momentum shift, but these guys believed. I'm at a loss of words. I'm so proud of these guys."
The Tigers (23-10) trailed 3-1 to start the seventh inning, and their comeback almost never materialized, even though Jackson Hutchens started the inning by being hit with a pitch. He was still at first when Ethan Arnold hit a potential game-ending ground ball to third, but a fielding error kept Bentonville's hopes alive.
Luke Crumpler then hit a single to right, and Hutchens eventually scored on a wild throw toward the plate to make it a 3-2 game as Arnold went to third and Crumpler to second. That set the stage for Kieper Pate, whose single went through the hole between shortstop and third, allowing both runners to score and give Bentonville a 4-3 lead.
"I just know I've got to do a job," Pate said. "The first pitch he threw me was a slider on the outside corner for strike one, and I just knew he was going to come back at me with another slider. He threw it and I got it off the end of the bat, but I put it in the right spot. It was just see ball, hit ball.
"I wasn't trying to pull the ball. I was just trying to get a good bat on the ball. I just happen to pull the ball and it got through the right hole."
Bentonville, however, wasn't finished as Stephon Gryskiewicz drew a walk, and Tony Woodie belted a three-run home run over the left-field fence to cap the outburst. Ethan Arnold then pitched around a leadoff single to send the Tigers to the championship game for the first time since they won the state title in 2015.
Both teams were held to one base hit through the first four innings. Bentonville finally broke the scoreless deadlock in the fifth when Connor Taylor walked and scored on Arnold's double to right-center.
The Tigers' lead, however, didn't last long. Clark Jenkins followed Ross Felder's leadoff double with a two-run home run to center field. Then Drue McClendon added a solo home run to finish Har-Ber's scoring.
Conway 10, Rogers Heritage 0
Zach Szuba had two hits and drove in three runs, and Austin Rainey fired a three-hitter as Conway run-ruled Rogers Heritage and earned its first trip to the championship game since 2018.
Szuba had two RBI singles and benefited from one of three bases-loaded walks issued to the Wampus Cats (18-9), who had seven players get at least one hit and also drew eight bases on balls against four War Eagle pitchers.
"Our guys are fairly mature at the plate," Conway Coach Leighton Hardin said. "They know when to have patience and when not. They saw during the game what was going on.
"The two arms they threw at us to start weren't bad. Those were two pretty good guys. Our guys battled and competed and found a way to put runs on the scoreboard."
Conway jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first on back-to-back RBI singles by Cole Glover and Szuba after two were out. Szuba then dropped a bloop single into right field that drove in another run. Then the Wampus Cats scored runs on a wild pitch and a passed ball for a 5-0 cushion.
That was more than enough cushion for Rainey, who had also thrown the first inning of Conway's 3-0 win Friday over Fort Smith Southside. The left-hander needed 75 pitches to complete his five innings of work, and he struck out five while walking three.
"Austin has done that for us all year," Hardin said. "You get into the state tournament and not give up a run to get to the finals, that's a recipe for success."
The Wampus Cats blew the game open with five runs in the third against three pitchers for Heritage (19-13), which was making its first semifinal appearance since 2012. Three of the runs scored on bases-loaded walks, including one to Szuba, while Preston Prock had a sacrifice fly and Sam Gregg drove in the final run with a single.