BENTONVILLE -- Maddy Prough has thrown some great games in her career at Bentonville High, but she was perfect on Thursday.

Prough pitched a perfect game and struck out 19 of the 21 batters she faced to lead the Tigers to a 1-0 victory over Rogers High at the Tiger Athletic Complex.

The only Rogers batters who didn't strike out came in the fifth inning when Mikelyn Bush popped out on the infield, and in the seventh inning when Allyn Hensley lined out at second base to end the game.

"Maddy put us on her back and she delivered," Bentonville coach Kent Early said. "Maddy is a competitor and she was on today. That was awesome."

Prough's clutch performance came in a battle of co-leaders in the 7A-West Conference. Rogers was tied with Bentonville after a 5-3 win earlier in conference play.

Bentonville (24-1, 11-1) is back atop the league standings after avenging its only loss of the season.

"I would definitely rate this game No. 1," said Prough, a senior who has 466 strikeouts in three years as a varsity pitcher for the Lady Tigers. "We have such high expectations and we really wanted to win because they handed us our only loss."

Sadie Beeman was a tough-luck loser for Rogers (14-6, 10-2), which allowed an unearned run for for the game's only score. Bentonville took a 1-0 in the fifth inning after Allysa Downey singled and moved to third on a double by Megan Crownover. Downey then continued home when a throw from Cassie Gonzales in center field sailed past third base.

"That was somebody just trying to make a play out there and you can't fault Cassie," Rogers coach Mike Harper said. "She's one of the reasons why we've been so good this year. It was just a great game by two really good pitchers."

Bentonville threatened in the third inning but did not score. Crownover drew a two-out walk and Jenna Wildeman slapped a single past third base to advance Crownover into scoring position. No. 3 hitter Haley Cornell worked the count to 2-2 before she struck out swinging to end the inning.'
