The Fort Hays State softball team finished 3-1 at the MSSU/PSU Border Battle in Joplin, Mo., over the weekend (Feb. 26-27). On Saturday, the Tigers claimed a 10-8 win in nine innings and a 7-0 win over Rockhurst. On Sunday, the Tigers fell 4-3 in 12 innings to Quincy, but bounced back to defeat Southeastern Oklahoma State 16-5. FHSU moved to 6-2 overall for the season.

Saturday
Fort Hays State 10, Drury 8 (9 inn.)

Box Score

The Tigers fell down 3-0 after two innings, but plated single runs in the third through sixth innings to take a 4-3 lead. Errors put the Tigers in trouble in the seventh, allowing a bases-clearing triple which gave Drury at 6-4 lead.

Britney Workman stepped up in the seventh and belted a solo home run to open the inning. Danie Brinkmann followed with a double setting the table for pitcher Kayla Rupa to help her own cause with a RBI single, which sent the game to extra frames.

The international tiebreaker was brought into effect in extra innings. Both teams benefitted on errors on the first batter in each half of the eighth, plating one run each to push the game to the ninth. The Panthers picked up a run in the top of the ninth, but a single by Workman followed by a walk-off three-run homer by Brinkmann in the bottom of the ninth lifted the Tigers to victory.

Brinkmann finished the game 3-for-4, just a triple short of hitting for the cycle, with four RBI. Workman was also just a triple short of hitting for the cycle, going 3-for-4. Malinee Powell, Adriana Wortley and Erin Dyok also recorded RBI in the game.

Kayla Rupa went the distance for FHSU, allowing 10 hits and one walk to go with her 10 strikeouts. Only three of the eight runs she allowed were earned. She moved to 3-1 with the win.

Fort Hays State 7, Rockhurst 0

Box Score

Maddie Holub scattered nine hits in a complete game shutout of Rockhurst. She struck out just two and walked two, letting her defense do the work to move to 2-0 on the season.

Erin Dyok hit a two-run homer in the first inning to get the Tigers on the board. Taylor Nelson had a RBI single in the fourth and Malinee Powell had a RBI triple followed by a Britney Workman single in the fifth.

Holub helped her own cause in the sixth with a sacrifice fly RBI and Nelson capped the scoring in the seventh with a solo homer.

Powell finished the game 3-for-4, just a home run short of hitting for the cycle.

Sunday
Quincy 4, Fort Hays State 3 (12 inn.)

Box Score

The Tigers engaged in their third extra-inning game of the year with Quincy in the Sunday opener. The teams needed 12 innings with the international tiebreaker format before Quincy emerged victorious. 

Quincy scored twice in the 12th, while the Tigers had a runner at third with one run across and one out, but Callie Wright and Kayla Rupa were back-to-back strikeout victims to end the game.

Quincy jumped out to a 2-0 lead with single runs in the top of the fourth and fifth, but the Tigers tied the game 2-2 in the bottom of the fifth with a RBI triple by Sara Tani, and then she scored on the play with an error by the third baseman.

Even with the runner placed on second at the start of each half inning, neither team could score in each of the first four extra innings.

Quincy rallied with two outs in the 12th, getting a RBI single to take the lead, then a RBI double to push the lead to two. Malinee Powell led off the bottom half of the inning with a double to plate the runner from second. She moved over to third on a single by Danie Brinkmann, who moved up to second on the play. However, Powell and Brinkmann were stranded on base to end the game.

Kayla Rupa went the distance in the tough loss, allowing 10 hits and just one walk in the 12-inning outing. She struck out a season-high 12 batters. She moved to 3-2 with the loss.

Fort Hays State 16, Southeastern Oklahoma State 5

Box Score

The Tiger bats were on fire in the tournament finale against Southeastern Oklahoma State, cranking out 21 hits. Five Tigers had two RBI each in the game, which included Erin Dyok, Adriana Wortley, Danie Brinkmann, Callie Wright, and Kayla Rupa. Wortley had the only homer of the game for FHSU, a two-run shot.

Malinee Powell continued her red-hot hitting to start the year, going 4-for-5 at the plate with a RBI. She is hitting .500 through eight games (18-for-36).

Maddie Holub, who was battling through an injury on her non-throwing arm throughout the week, started the game at pitcher. However, she lasted just one inning before turning the ball over to Kayla Rupa, who pitched the final six innings for the win. Holub allowed just one run. Rupa allowed four runs (two earned) and eight hits with no walks or strikeouts. Rupa moved to 4-2 with the win.