Softball contest returns to Bentonville

31 NCAA Division II schools to compete in 8-State Classic

Morgan Vaughan gets to come home with a hot hand — or right arm — this weekend.

The sophomore pitcher from Bentonville brings a 3-0 record into town as Arkansas Tech is among 31 NCAA Division II schools participating in the University of Arkansas at Monticello 8-State Classic, which will take place at the Tiger Athletic Complex and Memorial Park starting today.

“It’s a great feeling about coming home,” Vaughan said. “Some people may not want to come back home after high school, but the time I had there makes me want to come back. It was the best years as far as team chemistry and team unity, and I had some of the best pitching of my life there.”

Vaughan has yet to allow an earned run through 16 innings in the circle and has struck out 18 while allowing only seven hits. Her season debut was a shaky one as she walked four and allowed a pair of unearned runs in a relief role against Central Oklahoma, but she picked up the win when Tech rallied with two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning for a 10-9 win.

She’s been on top of her game in her two starts, though. Vaughan threw a one-hitter and struck out 13 batters in the Golden Suns’ 5-0 win over Central Missouri, and she followed that with a five-hitter in a 6-0 win over Emporia State.

“In that relief role, it was my first time to pitch in a couple of days,” Vaughan said. “I wasn’t supposed to pitch, and I wasn’t prepared, although I always try to be prepared. That was also a good team, and I was trying too hard.

“In the starts, I was well-prepared, and we were big on communicating what pitches we wanted to throw against certain batters. I’ve been working hard on my movement pitches and my location, and I was hitting my hot spots well and throwing hard.”

Vaughan is one of several Northwest Arkansas players who get to play closer to home. Other players making their return to the area include Tech’s Kambri Hill (Springdale), Arkansas-Monticello’s Kali Piha (Bentonville), Ouachita Baptist’s Kate Lucina (Bentonville) and Paige Purifoy (Farmington), Southern Arkansas’ Cortnye Pool (Fayetteville) and Shyanne Nichols (Gravette).

The classic — the biggest event of its kind among NCAA schools — consists of teams from Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska with a total of 92 games played over seven different fields. The list of teams include Central Missouri, which reached the national tournament last year, as well as regionally ranked teams such as Henderson State, Tech, Missouri Western, Emporia State, Minnesota State-Mankato and East Central (Okla.).

“We try to give each school six games against region opponents without playing somebody in its conference and not play a team twice,” said UAM coach Alvy Early. “It’s always a challenge to do that, but Bentonville is a great host and an attractive place.

“We hope its a good measurement for our team since conference play begins next week. We still have some spots to solidify, and I’m sure other teams are in the stage of finding their identity. It’s also a good measurement against other teams in our region because we wouldn’t plays the teams from Minnesota and Nebraska if it weren’t for this.”