BENTONVILLE -- Ryann Sanders and her Bentonville softball teammates don't have fond memories of their first meeting this season with Bentonville West.
The Lady Wolverines defeated the Lady Tigers 5-4 in Centerton on March 5 when Emma Wheatley hit a walk-off home run.
Bentonville hasn't lost a 6A-West Conference game since then though, and the Lady Tigers got some payback over the Lady Wolverines with a 12-2 win in five innings Tuesday at the Tiger Athletic Complex.
"We just did not back down today," said Sanders, who pitched 5 innings with 4 hits allowed and 8 strikeouts. "We didn't let anything get us down, and we didn't let any mistakes or errors affect us in the game."
Bentonville enjoyed three big innings offensively, scoring four runs in the bottom of the first, five in the bottom of the third and three more in the fifth.
Kylee Wyman hit a bases-loaded triple in the bottom of the fifth to score three runs for the game-winner.
Amber Turner, Alexis Lorennij and Marissa Gianneschi each had two hits for Bentonville, which had nine hits total.
After West (13-12, 7-5) scored a run in the top of the first, the Lady Tigers answered with four in the bottom of the inning. Turner had an RBI double to tie the game, and Gianneschi hit a two-run triple. Demi Donahoe added an RBI groundout in the inning.
West's Stephanie Crittenden hit an RBI double to pull West within 4-2 in the second.
Bentonville (18-5, 9-2) came back with five runs in a big third inning to go up 9-2 aided by three West errors.
Turner doubled down the left-field line and Lorennij reached on an error. Turner and courtesy runner Hailey Hill both scored on a squeeze bunt attempt by Donahoe that resulted in an error.
Ava Stimis singled with two outs to keep the inning alive for Bentonville and Taylor Chrisp walked. Sanders drove in a run with a single for a 7-2 lead, and pinch hitter Lana Carlton singled to left to drive in another run. West's third error off the inning allowed another run to score as Bentonville led 9-2.
Chrisp singled to open the fifth followed by walks to Sanders and Carlton to load the bases with no outs for Wyman, who ended the game with a line drive to center field.
"Against teams like that, they're going to get good timely hits," Bentonville West Coach Anthony Cantrell said. "They're going to hit it and do what they're supposed to do. They did a good job. They took advantage of our mistakes, and we made a lot of them."
Sanders meanwhile worked out of some early jams with timely strikeouts, stranding four runners in the first three innings.
"She pitched well and defense made some plays behind her," Bentonville Coach Kent Early said. "The biggest thing is she located and got some outs when she needed. She was able to get the key strikeouts in those pressure situations that really helped.
"When Ryann's in the circle we've got as good a chance as anybody. Offensively we're young, but we're starting to learn the game. Our softball IQ is going up. We've just got to keep battling. We've still got five more conference games to go."
After a 1-2 start in conference play, the Lady Tigers have now won eight straight league games. They play at Springdale Har-Ber on Thursday.
"We've been in every game," Early said. "That's what I told the kids. We've just got to keep fighting. We've got our backs against the wall starting off conference 1-2. I mean every game's a must win. That's how we have to look at it. We have another big one on Thursday."