HAYS, Kan. – The Fort Hays State softball team dropped a pair of games on Saturday (Feb. 17) in the first day of the FHSU Crossover Tournament. The Tigers fell to No. 12 Harding in the first game, 8-0 in five innings, then falling in a nine inning affair with the Wildcats of Wayne State, 7-6.
No. 12 Harding 8, Fort Hays State 0 (5 inn.)
The Tigers fell by run rule in their first matchup Saturday, an 8-0 defeat at the hands of the Bisons. FHSU scraped together two hits in the contest but couldn’t get past second base after a Bailey Kennedy double to center in the second inning.
Lily Sale recorded the other hit for the Tigers in the bottom of the third frame with a single to center field.
Sierra Rodriguez pitched 3.1 innings, giving up six runs on five hits while striking out two batters. Hailey Chapman came on in relief, throwing 1.2 innings. Chapman surrendered two more runs on four hits while also picking up two strikeouts.
Wayne State 7, Fort Hays State 6 (9 inn.)
Unlike the shortened first game, the Tigers’ second contest was determined in the ninth inning after they crawled back in both the seventh and eighth innings to force another frame, eventually falling to the Wildcats, 7-6.
The Tigers had their fair share of opportunities to score in this one after stranding 14 runners on base in nine innings of play. Wayne State led 4-0 halfway through the fifth frame before the Tigers countered with a couple runs of their own on singles from both Sale and Terron Caldwell to lead off the inning. Sale came around to score on a Candace Bollig RBI single up the middle, putting the Tigers on the board. Caldwell scored on the very next play, cutting the Wildcats lead in half, 4-2. Neither team was able to capitalize on anything in the sixth after the Tigers left the bases loaded. FHSU pulled even with the WSC in the seventh inning after Bailey Boxberger roped an RBI triple down the left field line, scoring Grace Philop. Boxberger crossed the plate one play later on a single from Sara Breckbill giving the some Tigers life by sending the game to extras.
Using the International Tiebreaker Scenario, WSC picked up a two run lead in the eighth before Caldwell used an RBI single to score Jeni Mohr. Sarah Kay then drew a bases loaded walk, extending the game even further. The Wildcats scored another run in the top of the ninth, eventually ending up as the deciding run in the contest after three straight ground-outs consumed all hope for the Tigers.
Chapman took the loss for the Tigers in the second game, going the distance while giving up all seven runs, striking out six batters and walking three more.
FHSU is back in action Sunday (Feb. 18), wrapping up the crossover tournament with an 11 a.m. meeting with Upper Iowa and a 1 p.m. date with Rogers State. Both games will be held at Tiger Stadium.