Nationally ranked Bentonville (AR) prepped for showdown against No. 1 Melissa (TX)

MELISSA, Texas – Kent Early has been known to put his teams up against challenging schedules throughout the two decades that he has been Bentonville’s head softball coach.

This season alone, the Tigers (14-1) have faced Louisiana powers Calvary Baptist and Sterlington in what has become an annual trip to The Pelican State. Plus they compete in the rugged 6A-West conference that includes Rogers and Springdale Har-Ber, ranked No. 4 and No. 2 in the most recent Fearless Friday Super 7 Softball Rankings for Class 6A, both of which No. 1 Bentonville completed the season sweep of earlier this week. Calvary Baptist, another of the country’s top teams, handed the Tigers their lone loss of the season back on March 13.

After conquering back-to-back conference foes this week, the Tigers now have their sights set on possibly the most notable out-of-state matchup in school history as they travel to take on consensus national unbeaten No. 1 Melissa (Texas) on Saturday at 12:30 p.m.

While it is nothing new for Bentonville to get national attention, it is the first time many of the current players have experienced it as the Tigers are still a young, albeit very talented, bunch that helped the squad win the program’s sixth state championship last May. The Tigers are ranked as high as No. 14 this week per High School on SI’s national Top 25 poll.

“The biggest thing is we have to be able to go 100% on game day,” Coach Early said. “In Arkansas we get everyone’s best shot, but we want to make sure we give Melissa our best shot. We are not overlooking anybody and are not in a position where we can do that.

“We’re playing for something and there is a lot of pressure that comes with that because when you’re nationally ranked people expect you to win, but it is not that easy. You still have to go out on game day and execute.”

One of the two players that graduated from last year’s Bentonville team was current Louisville Cardinal pitcher Ryann Sanders, who had a phenomenal senior season that resulted in multiple Player of the Year awards, as well as being named the 6A State Tournament’s Most Valuable Player for the second time in her career.

Junior Darby Burnett, a Texas A&M commit who was injured last season but impressed during her freshman year in 2023, has taken over as Bentonville’s ace and performed admirably. Burnett has thrown nearly every inning for the Tigers and collected 103 strikeouts to just 22 walks and allowed 10 earned runs with a 1.02 earned run average.

Early believes the best is yet to come for his top arm.

“The crazy thing about Darby is she has only been pitching for four years so she is still relatively young as far as the pitching part,” Early said. “She can hit 68 (MPH) every now and again, but she’ll sit between 63-65 all night long.”

Burnett looks to cap an impressive run against Melissa as she went the distance in both wins this week, allowing seven hits and striking out 19 while walking four.

Bentonville’s offense has once again impressed with five players batting .400 or better, along with another handful hitting .340+. Early mentioned that sophomore second baseman Bella Mears, who leads the team with a .500 batting average, has been one who has taken multiple steps forward.

“Bella has been outstanding,” Early said. “She is in the 9-hole spot and anybody in baseball or softball will tell you that is just your second leadoff. She does not say a word but works her butt off, every swing is very intentional to the extent of exactly what you are taught to do.”

Other then center fielder Amber Turner and Sanders, everyone else who heavily contributed to last spring’s state title run returned that includes left fielder Demi Donahoe, right fielder Marissa Gianneschi, third baseman Violet Nguyen who returned this year after being injured all of 2024, plus pitcher/first baseman Anniston Reith who transferred in from Springdale Har-Ber during the offseason and Kierra Burkhart replaced Turner in center field. Lana Carlton has also filled in nicely at the plate, while other up-and-coming underclassmen include catcher Alexis Lorennij and shortstop Kylee Wyman.

Melissa (28-0) has picked right back up where it left off from last season’s Texas 5A state championship run and to say they have dominated the opposition in those 28 games would be the understatement of the year. The Cardinals have only allowed 25 total runs on the season and before Thursday’s 17-3 triumph over Walnut Grove had blanked six consecutive opponents. In all, the Cardinals have pitched 20 shutouts and allowed no more than five runs in a contest.

With the Texas prep postseason right around the corner, Melissa Coach Cassie Crabtree – who played softball at Southern Arkansas University and competed against Early’s father, the late Alvy Early, a Hall of Fame coach from Arkansas – Monticello – is excited to face a proven team such as Bentonville.

“We have talked about this game for a while and I think it is really going to prepare us for the playoffs,” Crabtree said. “It is going to show us some challenges and help us fight through some stuff. Our pitcher will have to fight on every pitch and our batters are going to have to make adjustments, this will help us grow for the remainder of our season.”

Like Bentonville, Melissa features a roster flooded with next-level talent headlined by Crabtree’s daughter, shortstop Caigan Crabtree, who is signed to play for the Texas Longhorns, along with third baseman Florida commit Kennedy “KB” Bradley and left fielder Paisley Needham who is headed to play at Grayson (Texas) College. A heavy dose of the Cardinals’ talent features a heralded group of sophomores with pitcher Eloisa Maes, catcher Hutton “Lulu” Adrian, first baseman Izzy Gonzales, second baseman Amariee Bradford, center fielder Finlee Williams and designated hitter Rihanna “Rinn” Wheeler. 

Despite both their record and majority of their play on the field being perfect, Coach Crabtree has not sensed an ounce of complacency with her squad, even with the national spotlight shining directly one them.

“This group is just different and does not pay much attention to the outside stuff,” Crabtree said. “We have been ranked No. 1 pretty much the entire year and about three weeks ago one of my top girls was like ‘Hey did you know that we were ranked No. 1 in the nation?’.

“We just don’t really talk about it and treat every game like it is our last. I think they are on a mission and just try to get better every day and it does not really affect them.”

The goal for both teams is to continue earning recognition outside of their own state’s borders and Early knows this is a big opportunity for not just his Bentonville Tigers, but for all of Arkansas prep softball.

“This is a huge breakthrough because it puts our program on the national stage,” he said. “Arkansas got a late start getting into fast pitch since 2000 was our first year to play it. But now our name is mentioned (with Melissa) and that has not happened before.

“If we go down there and pull off an upset I would say it’d be unbelievable.”

BENTONVILLE STAT LEADERS

JR Darby Burnett (Texas A&M commit) – 12-1, 68 IP, 10 ER, 22 BB, 103 K, 1.029 ERA

JR Bella Mears – .500/.538/.611, 18 H, 2 3B, 7 RBI

JR Lana Carlton – .480/.594/.920, 12 H, 5 2B, 2 HR, 11 RBI

SR Demi Donahoe (Yale signee) – .435/.469/.457, 20 H, 5 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBI

SO Kylee Wyman – .429/.473/.837, 21 H, 6 2B, 1 3B, 4 HR, 19 RBI

JR Marissa Gianneschi (Missouri – Kansas City commit) – .417/.511/.778, 15 H, 7 2B, 2 HR, 21 RBI

SR Kierra Burkhart – .393/.452/.429, 11 H, 1 2B, 4 RBI

JR Ava Stimis – .375/.444/.688, 6 H, 2 2B, 1 HR, 9 RBI

SO Alexis Lorennij – .371/.500/.514, 13 H, 2 2B, 1 HR, 6 RBI

JR Violet Nguyễn (Dartmouth commit) – .350/.460/.800, 14 H, 5 2B, 2 3B, 3 HR, 18 RBI

SR Anniston Reith (Drake signee) – .343/.521/.800, 12 H, 4 2B, 4 HR, 13 RBI

MELISSA STAT LEADERS

SO Eloisa Maes – 21-0, 90 IP, 15 ER, 17 BB, 157 K, 1.17 ERA

SR Caigan Crabtree (Texas signee) – .544/.621/1.286, 37 H, 11 2B, 14 HR, 41 RBI

SO Finlee Williams – .571/.640/1.357, 48 H, 15 2B, 3 3B, 15 HR, 51 RBI

SO Hutton “Lulu” Adrian – .629/.729/1.443, 44 H, 11 2B, 2 3B, 14 HR, 45 RBI

SO Izzy Gonzales – .539/.600/1.066, 41 H, 10 2B, 3 3B, 8 HR, 41 RBI

JR KB Bradley (Florida commit) – .519/.685/1.370, 42 H, 8 2B, 2 3B, 19 HR, 44 RBI

SR Paisley Needham (Grayson College signee) – .473/.552/.892, 35 H, 8 2B, 1 3B, 7 HR, 43 RBI

SO Rihanna “Rinn” Wheeler – .397/.472/.857, 25 H, 6 2B, 1 3B, 7 HR, 23 RBI

SO Amariee Bradford  – .408/.561/.796, 20 H, 2 2B, 1 3B, 5 HR, 18 RBI

Cover photo of Cassie Crabtree by GM Sports Media, Kent Early by Jimmy Jones