By GERARD WELLBROCK

The Fort Hays State Tigers go 1-1 on the opening day of the MIAA softball championships Thursday night at the Blue Valley Recreation Complex in Overland Park, Kan. The Tigers rallied from a couple of two-run deficits to beat Central Missouri 6-5 in their opener but lost 7-4 in the quarterfinals to No. 8 seed Northeastern State, who upended regular season champ Emporia State in the first round.

Central Missouri hit a pair of two-run homers to grab leads of 2-0 and 4-2 then added a run in the sixth to go up[ 5-2. The Tigers rallied with two in the sixth on an Amanda Vaupel two-run homer. Courtney Dobson led off the seventh with a homer to tie the game, then Vaupel hit a two-out single to left scoring Danie Brinkmann with the game winning run.

Kellsi Olsen homered in the third to get the Tigers on the board. She tied the game with an RBI double in the fourth.

Paxton Duran picked up the complete game victory to move to 17-8, striking out 13 while walking just one.

The Tigers fell behind early in their second game against Northeastern State. Alyssa Aguilar’s three-run homer put the RiverHawks up 3-0. The Tigers would score on a Samantha Villarreal groundout in the first. They would tie the game with two in the second on sac fly from Bianca Adame and a Courtney Dobson RBI single. They took a 4-3 lead in the third on an Amanda Vaupel RBI single.

Northeastern tied the game with an unearned run in the fourth after Rilee Krier dropped a deep fly ball to right with two outs. The RiverHawks took the lead back for good with three in the fifth.

The Tigers tried to rally in the seventh. After reaching with a one-0ut double, Danie Brinkmann was thrown out at the plate to end the game after Paxton Duran singled.

Kelsey Kimminau took the loss, allowing all seven runs on nine hits over four 1/3 innings.

The 29-19 Tigers face Lindenwood in an elimination game at 11am Friday.

Central Missouri Highlights

Northeastern State Highlights