The 18th-ranked Fort Hays State softball team swept a big doubleheader with 24th-ranked Missouri Western on Friday at Tiger Stadium in Hays. The Tigers won an epic game one battle between two of the top pitchers in the conference in 12 innings by a score of 2-1, then took the second game in run-rule fashion 11-3 in six innings. Fort Hays State moved to 31-5 overall, 11-1 in the MIAA, while Missouri Western went to 24-10, 8-4 in the MIAA.
Erin Kinberger Postgame Interview
Game 1: Fort Hays State 2, Missouri Western 1 (12 inn.)
In a battle between two of the best pitchers in the MIAA, Maddie Holub and Jackie Bishop kept the game was scoreless through nine innings before the international tiebreaker was put into effect.
Missouri Western broke the scoreless tie in the 10th on a one-out triple by Sarah Elliott.
Fort Hays State tied the game in the bottom of the inning when Bianca Adame hit an RBI double down the left field line to plate the runner from second base.
Holub stranded a runner at third with her 17th strikeout to end the top of the 12th, breaking her single-game strikeout record of 16, which she reached four times prior all in seven-inning contests.
In the bottom of the inning, Amanda Vaupel laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance Danie Brinkmann to third. Jenna Lang then hit a a hard chopper back up the middle that the shortstop was unable to field cleanly, scoring pinch-runner Adara Erickson with the game-winning run..
In her 12-inning complete game, Holub allowed six hits, hit four batters, and walked one to go with her 17 strikeouts. The run she allowed was unearned. She moved to 16-1 overall with the win.
Bishop also went the distance for Missouri Western, pitching 11.1 innings with only three hits allowed, five walks, and 11 strikeouts. She went to 12-4 with the loss. Both Holub and Bishop were All-MIAA First Team selections last year and Bishop was the MIAA Pitcher of the Year in 2012.
Game 2: Fort Hays State 11, Missouri Western 3
The Tiger scored three runs in the first, four in the second, and two in the third to take a commanding 9-0.
Missouri Western scored twice in the fourth and once in the fifth to pull back within six at 9-3, but Fort Hays State scored one run each in the fifth and sixth to win by run-rule. Amanda Vaupel had her second sacrifice fly RBI of the game to plate the run in the fifth and Courtney Dobson had a walk-off RBI single up the middle to score a runner from second to end the game in the sixth.
Paxton Duran pitched a complete game for the Tigers, moving to 13-4 on the season. She allowed three hits with three walks and struck out one. Only one of the three runs she allowed was earned.
Dobson went 3-for-3 with an RBI two walks and four runs scored. Vaupel had four RBI.
Fort Hays State turns around to face Northwest Missouri State on Saturday at 12 pm at Tiger Stadium in Hays.