Maddie Holub opened her junior season for the Fort Hays State softball team in style, leading the Tigers to a pair of wins over Nebraska-Kearney Tuesday afternoon at Tiger Stadium. Fort Hays State won the first game 4-0 then had to score late to pull out a 6-5 win in the second game.
Game 1: Fort Hays State 4, Nebraska-Kearney 0
Holub recorded a strike out on all three outs in the first inning and never looked back as the Tigers took game one 4-0. Fort Hays State produced all of their offense in the bottom of the third inning, getting one run on a Holub single that was misplayed by a Nebraska-Kearney outfielder and brought Taylor Nelson home to score. The rest of the damage was done two batters later by Amanda Vaupel, who brought home Kellsi Olsen and Holub with a three-run home run over the left field fence.
That was all the help that Holub needed. She allowed just one hit and struck out a single-game Fort Hays State record 16 batters from Nebraska-Kearney. The previous record of 15 was shared by Holub (vs. Southwest Baptist, 3-28-10) and Melissa Beyer (vs. CSU-Pueblo, 3-30-05). The only hit she allowed was a single by Sarah Rome in the top of the fifth inning. Holub picked up the win to move to 1-0 on the year while Kirstie Hiatt took the loss after allowing four runs in 3.1 innings pitched.
Game 2: Fort Hays State 6, Nebraska-Kearney 5
The second game featured more offense, but most of it came early. Nebraska-Kearney struck in the first, manufacturing one run on a single from Jen Kramer off of Tiger pitcher Abby Morrison. Fort Hays State answered in the bottom of the first inning on a homer by Holub to make the score 1-1 after one inning.
After shutting down the Lopers in the second inning, Fort Hays State had another offensive explosion to go back in front. Following an Adriana Wortley single, Callie Wright hit her first career home run to put FHSU up 3-1. Consecutive singles from Christine Moses, Madison Putnam and Taylor Nelson loaded the bases before Olsen was hit by a pitch. Yasnaya Susoeff, who pinch ran for Moses, came across to score and make it 4-1. Holub came up next and hit a deep fly ball to left field which was caught, but allowed Putman to score on the sacrifice fly.
The lead would not last long, with Nebraska-Kearney fighting back for four runs in the top of the third inning. The most of the damage came on a three-run double from Rome with the bases loaded. The game was tied at 5-5 after three innings and would stay that way for the next two innings after the pitchers began to settle in. Fort Hays State brought in Kaitlyn Shattleroe to pitch in the sixth inning and she made quick work of the Lopers, giving the Tigers another chance to take the lead.
Putman walked to lead off the sixth inning and advanced to third on a groundout from Olsen. Holub came up next and hit a shot past the Loper third baseman and pushing Putman across for the go-ahead run. Shattleroe sat the Lopers down in order in the top of the seventh and allowed Fort Hays State to get the win 6-5.
Morrison pitched 5.0 innings, allowing four hits and five runs before Shattleroe came in and didn’t allow a hit in the final two innings. Shattleroe took the win to improve to 1-0 on the year, while Becky Dunn of Nebraska-Kearney got the loss.
Fort Hays State starts the season 2-0 and they will be on the road at the Midwestern State Tournament in Wichita Falls, Texas this weekend, playing five games between Friday and Sunday.
– FHSU Sports Information –