Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 The Fort Hays State softball team opened the 2011 season with a pair of wins at Colorado Mines in Golden, Colo., on Saturday (Feb. 12). The Tigers won game one 4-3, then needed 13 innings in the nightcap to defeat the Orediggers 5-4.

Game 1: FHSU 4, Colorado Mines 3

Box Score

 

The heart of the order lifted the Tigers to victory in the season opener, as they were responsible for driving in all four runs. In the first inning, the Tigers jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a Maddie Holub RBI triple followed by an RBI single from Adriana Wortley. With the score 2-1 in the fifth, the Tigers extended their lead by three on a Malinee Powell double that drove in Holub and Wortley.

 

Holub, Wortley, and Powell finished with six of Fort Hays State's eight hits in the game. Holub was a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate.

 

Kayla Rupa started her senior season off on the right foot, picking up the complete game win. She surrendered three runs, just two earned, on six hits with one walk and six strikeouts.

 

Game 2: FHSU 5, Colorado Mines 4 (13 inn.)

Box Score

 

The Tigers and Orediggers needed nearly the length of two games to decide the second contest of the afternoon. Fort Hays State pulled out a 5-4 win in 13 innings. The Tigers scored three in the top half of the 13th, but Colorado Mines left the bases loaded after scoring two runs in the bottom half, giving the Tigers a wild and hard fought win.

 

The Tigers opened the scoring on a squeeze bunt single by Malinee Powell in the third to take a 1-0 lead. Mines took its first lead of the day in the fourth on a two-RBI single to go up 2-1. The Tigers forced extra frames in the seventh when Powell came up big again with an RBI triple to plate Adriana Wortley from first base.

 

The Orediggers twice had golden opportunities to win the game in extra innings, but huge defensive plays by the Tigers thwarted the hopes of a doubleheader split. In the 10th, Colorado Mines led off with a triple, but the runner was thrown out in a run-down play following a strikeout of the batter. The Orediggers stranded a runner at third with two outs in the 11th. In the 12th, Sara Tani gunned down the potential winning run at the plate on a single to center as the runner tried to score from second.

 

The Tiger bats finally awoke from their slumber in the 13th. With one out, Tani triggered the rally with a single. A throwing error on Erin Dyok's sacrifice bunt attempt allowed Tani to move to third. Pitcher Maddie Holub then helped her own cause with a two-RBI triple to break the five-inning scoreless drought. Adriana Wortley followed that with an RBI single to make it 5-2.

 

The Orediggers did not lay over and die, as they fought back in the bottom of the 13th. Two of the first three batters of the inning reached base, leading to a two-RBI double. The second out of the inning came on a fielder's choice with two runners on, cutting down the lead runner at third. A wild pitch put runners at second and third, but Holub got the batter to pop up to first to end the game.

 

Maddie Holub threw a FHSU single-game record 13-inning complete game. She allowed four earned runs on nine hits and six walks with nine strikeouts. Her counterpart Kelly Unkrich also went all 13 innings for CSM, allowing five runs (three earned) on 10 hits and three walks with 10 strikeouts.

 

The Tigers open the season 2-0, but have two tough games on Sunday at No. 15 ranked Metro State. The doubleheader is set to start at 1 pm central/12 pm mountain time.