By FHSU Sports Information
Photo courtesy FHSU SID
Fort Hays State split its final doubleheader of the season on Monday in Hays against Nebraska-Kearney on Senior Day. The Tigers took the first contest by a score of 4-3 before falling by run rule in the second game, 10-0. The Tigers finish their season at 13-37 overall, while the Lopers finish at 16-29 overall.
Game 1: Fort Hays State 4, Nebraska-Kearney 3
After both teams scored a run in the first inning, FHSU added two in the second and one in the third to build a 4-1 lead. The Tigers had to hang on in the end after UNK scored one in the fifth and one in the seventh, but Hailey Chapman entered with the bases loaded in the seventh to get a one-out save. She struck out Calli Wiseman to end the game.
In the first inning, Candace Bollig reached on an error leading off the inning. She stole second and then scored on an RBI single by Terran Caldwell. In the second inning, Tess Gray gave the Tigers a 2-1 lead with a double to the right center gap, scoring Veronica Knittig. Gray eventually came in to score on another RBI single by Caldwell, making it 3-1. In the fourth, Carrie Clarke helped her own cause by notching an RBI single up the middle, scoring Bailey Kennedy.
Clarke threw 5.0 innings for the Tigers in the final start of her career in the pitching circle. She allowed two runs on seven hits and two walks, while striking out three. It was enough to earn the win. Megan Jamison mowed through the Lopers in the sixth inning with three straight strikeouts, but ran into trouble with two outs in the seventh when the Tigers committed a pair of errors that aided in loading the bases and scoring a run. Chapman came in to get the final out for her fifth save of the season.
Mallory Stoner took the loss for Nebraska-Kearney, throwing 3.0 innings before handing the ball over to Meg Housholder. Stoner allowed four runs (three earned) on seven hits and a walk. Housholder held the Tigers to just two hits and struck out four over 3.0 innings of relief.
Game 2: Nebraska-Kearney 10, Fort Hays State 0
The Lopers ran away with the season finale, aided by a first-inning three-run homer by Sara Sempek that put them up 4-0 early in the game. Hailey Chapman struggled against the Lopers, allowing nine runs on 13 hits over 5.0 innings, just a day after she shut them out in Kearney on just three hits with 10 strikeouts. She had just three strikeouts in this contest.
The Lopers tacked on two runs in the fifth and four more in the sixth to put the run rule in effect. The Tigers had only five hits, which included three against starter Abbey Martin who lasted 4.0 innings in the circle. Martin earned just her second win of the season. Erin Hallman pitched a scoreless fifth and Sarah Handrahan did the same in the sixth.
Sara Breckbill and Bailey Kennedy had two hits each in the game, accounting for 80 percent of the team’s hit production in the game. Tess Gray had a pinch hit single.
Fort Hays State came up short of qualifying for the MIAA Tournament, finishing in a tie for 12th at 8-18. Despite struggling to just three wins away from Hays this year, the Tigers still finished with a winning record at home, where they went 10-9.
Seniors Candace Bollig, Carrie Clarke, and Veronica Knittig were honored between the contests. The Tigers had a young squad in 2018 as 13 of the 17 players were either freshmen or sophomores.