Arkansas 6A softball roundup: Ciera Cravens dominates in the circle to lead Bentonville West to opening-round win

The quarterfinal round will be played Friday.

Author:
Steve Andrews
Publish date:
May 13, 2022 12:58 AM EDT

By Steve Andrews | Photos by Karen Schwartz

ROGERS – Senior righty Ciera Cravens was nearly unhittable on the mound Thursday, allowing just two singles over five innings to help Bentonville West open the 6A state softball tournament with a 10-0, run-rule victory over Little Rock Central at Rogers High School.

The Lady Wolverines lineup gave her all the support she needed at the plate, outhitting the Lady Tigers, 13-2.

“Sierra settled in a little bit, early, and threw a lot of strikes, and we played some good defense behind her,” West coach Anthony Cantrell said. “Then being able to put some runs on the board like that gives you some confidence, for sure.”

Central actually began the game with both of their hits, singles by seniors Anna Voth and Riley Ross. But that was the extent of the Lady Tigers’ offensive output. Cravens sat down the next three batters to end any threat.

“It didn’t start out great, but after that I just tried to move on and make up for it,” Cravens said. “But you can’t worry about the hits you give up. You just have to move on, and that’s what I tried to do tonight.

“That’s such a big help when we are able to score some runs because it just takes a little bit of that pressure off, and I’m able to just go out and pitch instead of worrying about making a mistake. So, it’s a huge help when my team gets me some runs. When everyone does their job, everyone has a good time.”

The Lady Wolves scored their first run in the second, when Marybeth Dyson doubled in Olivia Thornton for the 1-0 lead. Senior Caroline Wilhelm led off the third with a triple and came home on another triple by Laynee Tapp. West went up 3-0 when Tapp scored on a sacrifice fly from Stephanie Crittenden.

West then blew the game open in the fourth, scoring six times in the frame. Dyson led off the inning with a single and moved to third on a Cravens double to center. Wilhelm then brought them both in with a sharp shot to left, making it 5-0.

A big thing we had worked on this week was just swinging harder, and we all swung the bats really hard, and I think it showed in today’s game,” said Wilhelm, who led the offensive attack with three hits. “It was big to get this first win of the tournament. It makes a statement to other teams.”

Thornton slapped a 2-run single to make it a seven-run cushion, before Grace Cordell double in two more with a shot to right that made it 9-0.

Wilhelm led off the fifth with a double, then scored when Central committed it’s fourth error of the game. By rule, a 10-run lead after five innings ends the game.

The Lady Wolverines (18-10) will move on to face Bryant (21-6), the second seed from the 6A-Central Friday at 2:30 p.m.

“We play Bryant [Friday], and they’ve got a really good team, so we are going to have to play better tomorrow,” Cantrell said. “We’ve just got to show up ready to play. I think we’ve still got a little left in the tank, so we’ve just got to figure out a way to get it out of them. But we’ve had a good year and I’m proud of them.”

North Little Rock 6, Springdale Har-Ber 4

Six players contributed to the RBI parade for North Little Rock Thursday, as the Lady Charging Wildcats scored four times in the first inning and never looked back in a 6-4 win over Springdale Har-Ber in the first round of the 6A state tournament at Rogers High School.

After Har-Ber took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on a sacrifice bunt to the pitcher, North Little Rock bounced back in a big way in the bottom half.

Amelia Gassman started the scoring with an RBI double, tying the score at 1-1. Aubree Kimmons then doubled and Yasmin Sandoval followed with a triple to make it 3-1. Jacelyn Kelly singled in one more before the Wildcats could record the final out.

The Lady Charging Wildcats (17-9) will face 6A-West top seed Bentonville (18-3) today at noon.

Rogers Heritage 4, Fort Smith Northside 0

Host Rogers Heritage scored three runs in the bottom of the third and added another in the sixth Thursday to scoot past Fort Smith Northside 4-0 in the opening round of the 6A state tournament.

Elle Riendeau went the distance in the circle for the Lady War Eagles, scattering four hits and striking out four.

Riendeau and Pingel led the offensive attack with two hits each.

Heritage (17-12) will advance to face 6A-Central top seed Cabot (19-5) Friday at noon.