Vilonia hasn't had much luck against Bentonville recently, but that could start to change on Friday. The Eagles will welcome the Tigers at 4:30 p.m. Both teams are coming into the game red-hot, with Vilonia sitting on nine straight wins and Bentonville on six.
Vilonia is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Arkansas' top teams: Beebe, who was ranked 22nd at the time (Vilonia was ranked ninth). The Eagles walked away with a 7-2 victory over the Badgers on Tuesday. Seven seems to be a good number for the Eagles as the team scooped up a win with the same number of runs in their previous game.
Kinley Brown looked comfortable as she tossed three innings while giving up just one earned run off three hits. She has been consistent: she hasn't given up more than one walk in six consecutive appearances.
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Lila Toll, who went 1-for-3 with three runs, one stolen base, and one RBI. Another player making a difference was Olivia Cates, who went 1-for-4 with three RBI.
Meanwhile, Bentonville won against Northside on Tuesday with ten runs and they decided to stick to that run total again on Thursday. The Tigers never let Bentonville West get on the board and left with a 10-0 victory. The result was nothing new for the Tigers, who have now won 17 matches by six runs or more so far this season.
Darby Burnett tossed a big game, not allowing a single earned run and allowing only one hit while striking out six over five innings pitched.
At the plate, Violet Nguyen was incredible, going 3-for-4 with one home run, three runs, and two doubles. The team also got some help courtesy of Anniston Reith, who went a perfect 2-for-2 with one home run and four RBI.
Bentonville pushed their record up to 21-2 with the win, which was their 27th straight at home dating back to last season. Those home victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 0.7 runs on average over those games. As for Vilonia, their win bumped their record up to 18-3.
Vilonia suffered a grim 15-0 defeat to Bentonville in their previous matchup back in March of 2019. Will the Eagles have more luck at home instead of on the road? Check MaxPreps after the action for a full breakdown of the game and more softball content.
