FHSU Sports Information Department
Fort Hays State tied for sixth place in the MIAA regular season standings and have the No. 7 seed in the MIAA Tournament, scheduled Thursday through Saturday (Apr. 28-30) in Oklahoma City. The tournament is being held at the ASA Hall of Fame Stadium complex, also home to the NCAA Division I Softball World Series. The Tigers open the tournament with No. 2 seed Northwest Missouri State on Thursday evening at 5 pm.
The tournament is double-elimination format and all four fields at the complex will feature games on the opening night. The Tigers play two games on Thursday evening and pending the outcome of the opening round games, will face either No. 3 seed Central Oklahoma or No. 6 Central Missouri at 7:30 pm. There will be a pre-game ceremony inside Hall of Fame Stadium before the games start on Thursday at 4:30 pm.
The Tigers enter the tournament 21-28 overall and Northwest Missouri State enters at 36-12 overall. The Bearcats took both regular season games over the Tigers this season by scores of 7-1 and 3-0, limiting the Tigers to just three hits in each game. Central Oklahoma is 36-16 overall and Central Missouri is 27-25 overall.
This is the 10th straight year that the Tigers have reached the MIAA Tournament, continuing a run of qualifying for the tournament every year since joining the conference in 2006-07. They have put together a record of 17-18 at the tournament since joining the conference. The Tigers won their lone tournament championship back in 2013 and made an appearance in the finals in 2011.
On offense, Rilee Krier leads the team with a .361 batting average, 57 hits, 35 runs scored, 22 stolen bases, and a .420 on-base percentage. Tori Beltz leads the team in extra-base hits with 19 (nine doubles, 10 home runs) and RBI with 36. Courtney Dobson and Samantha Villarreal are having quality seasons with the bat as well as they are hitting .292 and .290 respectively. Dobson is second on the team in extra-base hits with 11.
For pitching, Paxton Duran has been solid all year long and sits 21st in the nation with 197 strikeouts to accompany her 15 wins and 2.67 ERA. Carrie Clarke has chipped in five wins this season, coming off her first complete game shutout of the season, a 10-0 win over Nebraska-Kearney in the season finale.