Many of Bentonville West's hitters should have been familiar with Maddy Prough, having hit against her during scrimmages while they were teammates last year.

It was a little different against Bentonville High's senior pitcher in a game-type situation Tuesday afternoon. The right-hander, who struggled a little in games at Rogers High and Rogers Heritage last week, was back on track with a three-hitter and led the Lady Tigers to a 7-0 victory during 7A-West Conference softball action at the Tiger Athletic Complex.

"It was comforting," Prough said. "After taking a loss, with everybody's high expectations, I think it hit everybody hard. We kept thinking we need to come back, play the best we can and not let it get to us.

"It was a mix of both pitching against them because they were my teammates. On the inside, you want them to do well, but you also want to do good for your team. When I was pitching to them, I needed to do what I knew I could do and not worry about that."

Prough (13-1) struck out a personal-high 16 batters and walked only one in a 98-pitch performance for her ninth shutout in 14 games this season. She didn't allow a runner until the fourth, when Jazmine Dodd singled for one of her two hits.

Bentonville (18-1, 6-1) gave its pitcher all the run support she needed in the second inning. Keelah Griffith belted a two-out single off Hallie Wacaser (3-2), then came home when Morgan Nelson blasted her fourth home run of the season, a deep shot over the left-center field fence.

"Maddie threw the ball well and spotted her pitches pretty good," Bentonville coach Kent Early said. "That home run by Nelson eased her up a little bit, knowing that she can keep pounding the zone.

"That home run was a no-doubter, right off the bat. She picked a good pitch, and she squared that thing up. She's doing a heck of a job for us."

Nelson gave the Lady Tigers some insurance by driving in two more runs with a fourth-inning sacrifice fly and a sixth-inning single in the sixth. Jordan Gartman drove in two more runs with a sacrifice fly and a squeeze bunt as West (15-8, 3-3) suffered its fifth straight loss.

"We're in a part of our schedule right now where the scheduler didn't do us any favors with the last four games," West coach Anthony Cantrell said. "We just have to make some adjustments. We played cleaner than we have the last three or four games, so that's an improvement."
