BENTONVILLE -- Bentonville's bats exploded in the final two innings, and McKenzie Vaughan only allowed two hits in a 12-0 run-rule victory over Fort Smith Southside on Wednesday evening at the Tiger Athletic Complex.
Through the first two innings, both teams had only one hit apiece, but the Lady Tiger bats woke up in the third. After getting two on with back-to-back bunts, Emily Perry doubled to deep center field to bring both runners home. Bentonville combined for five hits in the inning and plated five runs in the inning Trista Peterson launched an RBI double.
Lady Tigers coach Kent Early thought his team adjusted well on offense.
"They tried to change speeds on us a little bit and the wind held up a couple of balls that just made them routine fly balls," Early said. "The kids made adjustments and cut the ball in half. They really came out and performed."
Bentonville (21-1, 9-1 6A-West) didn't take its foot off the gas. The team produced seven runs in the fourth inning off six hits. The scoring was highlighted by freshman Ryann Sanders' two-run homer that brought the Lady Tiger advantage to 12-0.
Vaughan and the Bentonville defense allowed no runs in the fifth, securing the 10-run rule win.
Early pointed to an all-around performance by his team as an encouraging sign heading into postseason play soon.
"The whole point was to come out and try and play our best," he said. "I don't know if we played five innings of our best, but we had two pretty doggone good innings. Our job is to just execute on offense and make plays behind them on defense. We did that today to a point.
"Our goal is to continue to improve and get better because we're getting close to the postseason, and we want to shore everything up. That's our goal, and that's what we talked about."
In the circle, Vaughan struck out seven batters in only five innings of work. The Bentonville defense came up with big plays and committed no errors to keep Southside off the bags.
"It feels good," Vaughan said. "I like knowing that my defense can do work behind me."
Seven different Lady Tigers recorded a hit.
Senior second baseman Perry finished the game 2-for-3 with three RBIs, and Peterson chipped in with three RBIs herself.
Both teams have a quick turnaround with games today. Bentonville will travel to Rogers Heritage, while Southside (13-11, 5-4) will look to bounce back when it hosts Fayetteville.