By FHSU SPORTS INFORMATION
WICHITA FALLS, Texas – Fort Hays State Softball finished its first weekend of play 3-1 after a pair of wins on Saturday (Feb. 11). The Tigers ran away with their first contest, defeating Southwestern Oklahoma State by run rule in five innings, 12-0, before knocking off Northwestern Oklahoma State 4-1 in the weekend finale. Morgan Schmidt hurled a complete-game shutout in the opening contest with 10 strikeouts and Savanah Egger followed with a complete-game, eight-strikeout performance.
Game 1: Fort Hays State 12, Southwestern Oklahoma State 0
Fort Hays State gradually built its lead out to 5-0 through four inning before erupting for seven runs in the top of the fifth to get a run-rule victory against Southwestern Oklahoma State.
Sarah Tiffany and Aubrey Martinez put the Tigers up 2-0 in the first inning on a pair of RBI singles before starting pitcher Morgan Schmidt mowed through SWOSU with three swinging strikeouts. The Tigers added another pair in the third when Martinez picked up another RBI on a groundout and Regan Curry drove in a run with a single. After the two-spot, Schmidt buzzed through three more SWOSU batters in the bottom half and had seven strikeouts through three innings. Tiffany added another run in the fourth with another RBI single.
After having no runners on with two outs in the fifth, the Tigers went on a seven-run rally. Carly Stuke doubled home the first run, Lilliana Ramirez-Johnson knocked in the next with a single. Loren Beggs recorded two RBIs on a single before Madison Pierce delivered the knock-out blow with a three-run homer.
Schmidt went on to finish her pitching gem, striking out 10 in just the five innings of work. She surrendered just two hits and did not allow any walks in her first outing of the season.
Game 2: Fort Hays State 4, Northwestern Oklahoma State 1
Savanah Egger was just one out away from giving FHSU a pair of shutout performances in the circle on the second day of competition in Wichita Falls. She held Northwestern Oklahoma State scoreless for 6.2 innings before giving up an RBI single in the top of the seventh. She ended any more threat from the Rangers by getting a flyout to end the game. Egger allowed just four hits and one walk, while striking out eight batters for her first win of the season. Egger held the Rangers hitless in five of seven innings.
The Tigers did all of their scoring damage in the fifth. After Carly Stuke singled, moved up on a sacrifice bunt and Peyton Shepard walked, Sarah Tiffany doubled both runners home to break a scoreless tie. Loren Beggsimmediately followed with an RBI single to knock Tiffany in, then Madison Pierce singled Beggs home to complete the scoring burst.
The Tigers will head south again next week for six games, all in Oklahoma. They play a doubleheader at Southwestern Oklahoma State on Thursday (Feb. 16) before playing four games in the Edmond/Oklahoma City area tournament on February 17 and 18. All six games will be against Great American Conference opponents.
Friday
WICHITA FALLS, Texas – Fort Hays State split its pair of games on its first day of the 2023 season in Texas. The Tigers knocked off Oklahoma Baptist in comeback fashion, 7-6, before falling to Rockhurst 2-1 in the second contest. Madison Pierce and Loren Beggs combined for all seven of FHSU’s RBIs on the day.
Fort Hays State 7, Oklahoma Baptist 6
Fort Hays State rallied back from a 6-0 deficit through three innings, scoring once in the fourth, twice in the fifth, and four times in the sixth to topple an Oklahoma Baptist squad that entered the game 5-0 on the year.
Loren Beggs jump started the Tiger offense in the fourth with a leadoff triple. She came in to score on an RBI groundout by Madison Pierce. In the fifth, the Tigers dented the Bison lead even more when Beggs tripled again to knock in Peyton Shepard. Pierce followed with a double to drive Beggs in, making the score 6-3.
The middle of the order combo shined once more for the Tigers in the sixth when Beggs came up to the plate with the bases loaded and one out. She singled up the middle for her second and third RBIs of the game, knocking in Carly Stuke and Shepard to get the Tigers within one run. Pierce immediately pushed the Tigers into the lead with a double to right field scoring pinch runner Caiya Stucky and Beggs.
Bailey Carlson, who surrendered just a two-run homer in the third inning, did her job in relief over 4.1 innings to allow the Tigers to storm back. She held the Bison scoreless in the fourth, fifth, and sixth and found herself with a lead to open the seventh. She surrendered a walk to open the frame and then handed the ball to Savanah Egger, who kept the Bison scoreless for the final inning and stranded the lead-off batter at third base with an infield pop up and strikeout. Egger earned the save, while Carlson picked up the win. Emma Montoya threw the first 1.2 innings for the Tigers and allowed four runs.
The Tigers did all of their offensive damage against OBU starter Morgan Max, who allowed all seven runs (six earned) to the Tigers on 11 hits. Kayleigh Jones came in to keep the Tigers from scoring any more runs, getting the final two outs of the sixth.
Beggs led the Tigers with three hits in the game, followed by Pierce, Sarah Tiffany, and Regan Curry all with two. Shepard drew three of four Tiger walks in the game.
Rockhurst 2, Fort Hays State 1
After the three-inning outburst in the first contest of the day, the bats cooled in the second contest as the Tigers fell 2-1 in a low-scoring game against Rockhurst. All of the scoring occurred in the first two innings before goose eggs were posted for the final five innings.
The Hawks did all of their damage with a two-out rally in the first inning. With no one on base, Gwen Bostick and Jayla Pierce had back-to-back singles before Lauren Good scored both on a double down the left field line.
The Tigers got a run back in the second on a throwing error by the Hawks, allowing Regan Curry to score all the way from first base. The Tigers looked to have tied the score on a Peyton Shepard dribbler to the right side she beat out for a hit, scoring Carly Stuke, but the run was waved off and Shepard was called out for apparently being out of the batter’s box when she struck the ball. Unfortunately, the Tiger offense could not muster any more runs from there on out.
Rockhurst’s Anna Newcomer threw a complete game, scattering five hits to the Tigers. She struck out two, walked three, and hit a batter. The Tigers had five players record one hit each, including Shepard, Stuke, Madison Pierce, Sarah Tiffany, and Aubrey Martinez.
Savanah Egger took the tough-luck loss after holding the Hawks scoreless over her final five innings in a complete-game effort. She struck out 10, walked two, and scattered seven hits.