By FHSU SPORTS INFORMATION
CONWAY/RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – Fort Hays State Softball ran its win streak to five games with a pair of neutral-site wins in Arkansas on Saturday. The Tigers defeated Wisconsin-Parkside 7-3 in eight innings and then had a walk-off 2-1 win over Upper Iowa in the nightcap.
Fort Hays State 7, Wisconsin-Parkside 3
Fort Hays State claimed a back-and-forth battle against Wisconsin-Parkside, scoring four runs in the eighth inning to break a 3-3 tie. The game immediately went to the international tiebreaker in the eighth and FHSU used some crafty baserunning to build a big cushion in the extra inning.
Wisconsin-Parkside got out to a 1-0 lead by manufacturing a run within its first three batters of the game, but Hailey Chapman settled in to record five strikeouts in the first and second innings combined.
The Tigers tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the third when Katie Adler came in to score from second on a Bailey Boxberger RBI single to right field. However, UWP took the lead right back in the bottom of the third on a two-out RBI single. Fort Hays State kept the back-and-forth nature of the game going by tying the game in the top of the fourth. A UWP error led to a sacrifice fly RBI by Lily Sale to knot the score at 2-2.
Following Wisconsin-Parkside’s second run scoring play of the game in the third, Megan Jamison took over the in circle for Chapman and did a marvelous job holding the Rangers at bay until the seventh inning. Jamison recorded nine consecutive outs from the last out of the third to the second out of the sixth. While Jamison was holding the Rangers at bay, FHSU took its first lead in the sixth on an RBI triple by Elise Capra into the right field corner.
Jamison gave up a pinch-hit single to start the seventh inning and Adrian Pilkington turned the ball back over to Chapman trying to save a game she started. However, after getting one out, Kellie Fenza of UWP laced an RBI double to tie the game at 3-3. Chapman got a big strikeout to end the seventh, stranding the potential winning run at third.
Capra was placed on second base to start the international tiebreaker format in the eighth. Megan Feiner stepped to the plate and recorded a bunt single to get the Tiger rally started. After a pop out created the first out of the inning, Lily Sale put down another beautiful bunt along the first base line and Capra easily got under the tag of a throw home. Then, Sale created chaos when she rounded first base and coaxed an errant throw in a rundown and Feiner scored all the way from first on the play. All of the sudden, FHSU led 5-3 on the sacrifice bunt RBI by Sale. Terran Caldwell kept the rally going with a single and then she moved up on a throw to put runners at second and third. Katie Adler caused more chaos on the base paths when she laced an RBI single to left field to score Sale and then created a rundown between first and second. She was tagged out near first base, but did her job in allowing Caldwell enough time to plate a second run all the way from second on the play. When the dust settled in the inning, FHSU led 7-3 going to the bottom half.
Chapman gave Parkside no chance at a rally in the bottom of the eighth. She opened the inning with a pair of strikeouts and then got a foul pop up to end the game. Chapman ended up with the win in 4.2 total innings of work moving to 2-1 on the year, allowing two runs on four hits and two walks with eight strikeouts. Jamison threw 3.1 innings in relief, allowing just one run on three hits with two strikeouts.
Fort Hays State 2, Upper Iowa 1
Fort Hays State rallied late for a 2-1 win in the nightcap over Upper Iowa. Down 1-0 after five and a half innings, FHSU tied the game in the sixth and then won in walk-off fashion on a Grace Philop RBI single in the seventh.
Philop was the spark for the Tigers in the sixth with a one-out single. A pair of two-out walks drawn by Sara Breckbill and Elise Capra loaded the bases, and then Allison Jurgensen came up with a huge pinch-hit RBI single to tie the game.
Lily Sale led off the seventh with a single and then Terran Caldwell picked up a single on a well-placed bunt. Katie Adler then sacrificed Sale and Caldwell over to second and third before Philop ended the game with an RBI single to the right side.
Michaelanne Nelson outdueled Emily Kisch of Upper Iowa in the pitching circle. Nelson picked up her first complete game of the season, allowing just one run on four hits and three walks with four strikeouts. Her only blemish in the run column came in the fourth on a two-out RBI single. She got a strikeout to avoid any further damage. Nelson moved to 2-1 on the season with the win.
Kisch of Upper Iowa threw six innings before allowing the Sale single to open up the seventh. She handed the ball over to Jaclyn Thompson at that point, who recorded just one out before allowing the single to Philop to end the game. Kisch took the loss for Upper Iowa.
Tiger Notes
–Grace Philop had the most hits of any Tiger on the day with four, going 4-for-8 at the plate.
–Lily Sale was 2-for-4 at the plate on the day with 2 RBIs and 2 runs scored. She had the sacrifice bunt to give FHSU the lead in extra innings against UWP and then started the seventh-inning rally against UIU with a base hit to open the inning.
-FHSU pitchers combined for a 1.87 ERA on the day, recording 14 strikeouts in 15 innings of work with a solid WHIP of 1.07.
Fort Hays State returns to action on Sunday with a pair of games at the Fieldhouse Sports Training Center in Conway. The Tigers take on Rogers State at 2:45 pm, then Washburn at 5 pm. Live updates will be available on Twitter at @fhsuathletics once again.