FHSU Sports Information
Fort Hays State Softball kicked off its 2014 campaign with an split performance on Day 1 of the 8-State Classic in Bentonville, Ark. The Tigers (1-1) knocked off East Central, 7-3, in the first game of the day before falling to No. 18 Missouri-St. Louis, 2-0, in the second contest of the tournament.
FHSU is back in action tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. against Southern Nazarene, followed by a 3:30 p.m. contest with Quincy.
A recap of today’s games is below…
FHSU 7, East Central 3
Fort Hays State picked up 12 hits and six RBI en route to its first win of the season, a 7-3 victory over East Central. The Tigers committed zero errors in the opening game and hit .400 as a team.
Rilee Krier made a splash in her Tiger debut, going 3-for-3 with two runs, while Bianca Adame and Tori Beltz went 2-for-4, each with an RBI.
Paxton Duran 4 appearance at the plate.
The Tigers started off hot at the plate, picking up three hits and one run in the top of the first. Krier singled with one out in the inning then moved to third as Dani Brinkmann reached on an error. With two outs, Courthey Dobson’s single up the middle scored Krier from third.
After East Central tied the game with a home run in the bottom of the second, FHSU regained control in the third.
Krier led off the top of the third with a bunt single, followed by back-to-back singles from Brinkmann and Beltz – the latter of which scored Krier. After Dobson’s sacrifice bunt put runners on second and third, Amanda Vaupel walked to load the bases with one out. Later in the inning, with two outs, Duran singled to right field – scoring Madision Putman (who pinch ran for Brinkmann) and Beltz. Kellsi Olsen’s double followed, scoring Vaupel and giving the Tigers a 5-1 lead.
East Central again answered in the fourth, as Lauren Reeves hit a two-run home run, but that was as close as the home team would come, as FHSU closed the door in the next half inning.
With one out in the fifth, Kylie Strand started the Tigers’ final scoring opportunity with a single to left field and moved to second on Olsen’s two-out walk. Bianca Adame’s RBI-single followed, scoring Strand. During Krier’s final at-bat, East Central’s Nicole Nordie would be tagged with two wild pitches – the first of which moved Adame and Olsen to second and third, respectively. The second wild pitch pushed Krier across home for the Tigers’ seventh run of the day.
No. 18 UMSL 2, FHSU 0
Fort Hays State found itself in a pitcher’s duel in the second game of the day, though Missouri-St. Louis capitalized on two runs in the first for the 2-0 victory. FHSU had just one hit in the game, and only two Tigers reached base. Once again, the Tigers showed strong defense with zero errors and one double-play.
Kelsey Kinninau (0-1) threw six innings and allowed just two runs on five hits while striking out five.
The Tritons’ Hannah Perryman (1-0) took the win after striking out 10 Tigers.
Amanda Vaupel had the Tigers’ only hit, picking up a two-out single in the second. Kellsi Olsen’s walk in the sixth proved to be the only other Tiger base runner on the afternoon.
UMSL’s only runs of the game came early. Back-to-back hits to start the game gave the Tritons a 1-0 lead and a runner on first. Later on, Katie Wood’s two-out double gave the Tritons the two-run lead.
The Tigers would fight off several more offensive threats from UMSL, including the third, when Kimminau picked up a strikeout and a groundout to get strand two base runners.
In the fourth inning, UMSL had runners on second and third with two outs before Olsen fielded a ground ball and threw out Jena Boudreau at first from her knees.