Softball Preview: Rogers Mountaineers vs. Bentonville Tigers
Rogers is 2-8 against Bentonville since May of 2019 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Thursday. The Rogers Mountaineers will be playing in front of their home fans against the Bentonville Tigers at 5:00 p.m. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Rogers comes in on five and Bentonville on ten.
Rogers is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Arkansas' top teams: Har-Ber, who was ranked ninth in their home state at the time (Rogers was ranked first). Rogers' pitcher stepped up to hand Har-Ber a 5-0 shutout on Monday. Give Rogers' pitching crew some credit: that's the team's fourth straight shutout.
Not much got past Ava Johnson, who gave up just three hits and racked up 13 Ks to keep Har-Ber off the board. Johnson has been nothing but reliable on the mound: she hasn't given up more than one walk in four consecutive pitching appearances.
On the hitting side, Dahana Tuomala was excellent, going 1-for-4 with a home run. Lauryn Heinle was another key contributor, scoring a run and stealing a base while going 2-for-4.
Meanwhile, in what's become a running theme this season, Bentonville gave their fans yet another huge victory on Tuesday. They were the clear victor by a 17-0 margin over Springdale. The high-flying hitting performance was a huge turnaround for Bentonville considering their one-run performance the matchup before.
Darby Burnett looked comfortable as she tossed three innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit.
At the plate, the team relied heavily on Amber Turner, who fired off two home runs and five RBI while going 3-for-3. The team also got some help courtesy of Kate Maness, who went 3-for-3 with two triples, three runs, and a double.
Rogers' win was their 15th straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 25-3. As for Bentonville, their victory bumped their record up to 20-5.
Rogers came out on top in a nail-biter against Bentonville in their previous meeting back in February, sneaking past 1-0. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Bentonville's Ryann Sanders, who struck out six batters over seven innings while giving up just one earned run off four hits (and only one walk). Now that she's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Rogers still be able to contain Sanders? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
