By FHSU SPORTS INFORMATION
EDMOND, Okla. – Fort Hays State Softball fell twice to No. 5 ranked Central Oklahoma on Saturday (Apr. 12). UCO won the first contest 3-1 before running away with the second game by run rule 20-1. FHSU is now 23-15 overall and 8-10 in the MIAA, while UCO moved to 37-6 overall and 16-2 in the MIAA.
Central Oklahoma 3, Fort Hays State 1
The Bronchos jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on a two-run home run by Terin Ritz in the first inning. UCO then added another run in the fourth on three hits, culminated on an RBI single by Kya Watson. UCO had four of its five total hits in the game in the innings it scored.
The Tigers also had five hits in the contest, but went scoreless all the way to the seventh inning. A Lilly Mohrwalk to open the inning eventually set up an RBI single by Paige Thexton.
Savanah Egger threw a complete game, allowing five hits and a walk over 6.0 innings. She struck out four and moved to 10-9 on the season. Ritz moved to 13-2 in the circle for the season, also allowing five hits with two walks. She struck out eight batters for the win.
Central Oklahoma 20, Fort Hays State 1
Fort Hays State initially took a 1-0 lead on a Madison Pierce home run in the first inning, but it was all Bronchos from the second through fourth innings as they notched 20 runs in the three-inning span. A nine-hit second inning coupled with a key Tiger error ballooned into 13 runs for the Bronchos. They added four more in the third and three in the fourth and finished with 18 total hits in the game.
The Tigers had just two hits in the game, the other by Paige Thexton after the Pierce homer early on. Morgan Schmidt allowed eight runs in 1.0 inning, unable to get an out in the second after retiring the Bronchos in order in the first inning. Korryn Johnson allowed five runs, Savanah Egger allowed three runs, Kylie Caspersenallowed one run, Erika Flynn allowed two runs, and Myah Wolfe allowed one run.
Jordyn Pipkin (5-0) picked up the win for UCO, throwing the first 3.0 innings in the run-rule shortened game. She allowed one run on one hit with four strikeouts. Sydney Ward and Kaylee Bradley both pitched an inning each for UCO.
Fort Hays State looks to get back on track in a pair of road games next week at Missouri Southern (Fri. Apr. 18) and Pittsburg State (Sat. Apr. 19).
Friday
WICHITA, Kan. – Fort Hays State Softball moved to 23-13 overall and 8-8 in the MIAA with a split of a doubleheader at Newman University on Friday (Apr. 11). An error ended game one in walkoff fashion, 2-1 in favor of the Jets, but the Tigers rebounded for a 5-3 win in the second contest. Newman moved to 7-33 overall and 2-14 in the MIAA.
Newman 2, Fort Hays State 1
Fort Hays State struggled to get the bats going throughout the first contest of the day and ultimately fell on a throwing error with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning. The Tigers saw Newman put together back-to-back hits with two outs in the fifth to take a 1-0 lead. FHSU finally put a run on the board in the seventh to keep the game going, but then lost the game on a mistake in the bottom half of the inning.
The Tigers had just three hits through the first six innings of the game. A two-out triple followed by an RBI single in the fifth saw the Jets take the lead. Abbey Duarte had a clutch double to start off the seventh inning. Taylor Fitzgerald ran for her, moved up to third on a sacrifice bunt, and then scored on a big RBI single by Regan Curry.
The Jets got a one-out single in the seventh and the runner moved up on a sacrifice bunt. However, on the next batter as a throw to try to cut down the lead runner struck the runner at third base and rolled away from the bag, it allowed the runner to come in to score and end the game.
Savanah Egger took a tough-luck loss, moving to 10-8 overall on the season. She allowed four hits and two walks, while striking out five. Katelyn Westover moved to 2-9 overall on the season with five hits and one walk allowed. She did not strike out any batters.
Fort Hays State 5, Newman 3
Newman took an early 1-0 lead with a run in the first inning, but the Tigers pulled even in the third inning and then took the lead on a Madison Pierce 2-run home run in the fifth. The Tigers added a pair of insurance runs in the seventh, scoring on an error by the Jets, which they needed since the Jets scored twice in the bottom of the seventh.
Pierce set up the first Tiger run in the third with a one-out single. Abbey Duarte then drove her in with an RBI double to the right-center gap. Joining Duarte and Pierce with a two-hit game was Lilliana Ramirez-Johnson, who singled ahead of Pierce’s two-run homer. Walks by Ramirez-Johnson and Pierce in the seventh eventually set up the final two runs as the Jets committed an error off the bat of Regan Curry.
Morgan Schmidt threw a complete game for the Tigers, moving to 11-5 on the season. She allowed four hits and three walks, while striking out eight. Paola Zamacona threw a complete game for the Jets, allowing eight hits and seven walks with two strikeouts.