The Fort Hays State softball team has advanced to the consolation finals of the MIAA Tournament on Saturday evening (May 7) following victories over Washburn and Emporia State earlier Saturday afternoon. The Tigers defeated Washburn 5-3 and the No. 15 Hornets 7-3 to advance. FHSU will now face the loser of a matchup between MIAA regular season co-champions Missouri Western and Nebraska-Omaha at 5:00 p.m. Saturday evening at the Blue Valley Recreation Complex in Overland Park, Kan.

 

Box Score
 

The Tigers and Lady Blues were engaged in a pitchers battle early, with neither team pushing across a run in the first three innings. In the fourth, the Tigers finally managed to score on a sacrifice fly by Britney Workman which brought Erin Dyok in to score. The next batter, Kayla Rupa, would follow with a double that scored Danie Brinkmann from second base.

 

Fort Hays State add to the lead in the sixth. Malinee Powell opened up the inning with a walk and Rupa followed with a single of her own. The damage was done soon after on a three-run home run to right center field by Taylor Nelson which gave the Tigers a 5-0 advantage.

 

Washburn would not go away, however, scoring one run in the sixth on a RBI single from Hilary Weatherford. Then, in the bottom of the seventh, the Lady Blues got three straight singles to load the bases with nobody out. A pinch-hit single from Jacque Horejsi scored two for Washburn and cut the Tigers lead to 5-3 with nobody out.

 

For the second straight day, Maddie Holub worked out of a tough late-game situation and, following a sacrifice bunt, got Alex Zordel to line into an unassisted double play by Dyok to end the game. Holub picked up the win and moved to 14-7 on the season. She allowed nine hits but just three runs and only walked one batter while striking out four.

 

Box Score
 

For the second time the two days, the Lady Tigers found a way to defeat MIAA co-champion and No. 15 Emporia State. This time the Tigers relied on the pitching of Kayla Rupa and took advantage of some Hornet miscues in the final inning.

 

Fort Hays State jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning on an RBI double from Malinee Powell followed by a single from Britney Workman which drove Powell in. Rupa would hold the Hornets in check for a few innings, but they would strike and score a run each in the fourth and the fifth innings to pull the game tied at 2-2.

 

That score would hold until the Tigers came to bat in the top of the seventh inning. Taylor Nelson and Adriana Wortley started off the inning with back-to-back singles. Sara Tani attempted a sacrifice bunt to move the runners up, but an error by Emporia State allowed Tani to advance and left the bases loaded for Maddie Holub.

 

Holub responded with a double to right center field which scored both Nelson and Wortley and moved Tani up to third. Erin Dyok attempted another bunt for the Tigers and she also reached on an error that allowed both Tani and Holub to come across the plate and push the lead to 6-2. Dyok would eventually score on a sacrifice fly from Britney Workman, allowing the Tigers to take a commanding 7-2 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning.

 

Rupa worked quickly in the seventh, despite allowing a solo home run by Amanda Self, and the Tigers got a victory over the No. 15 Hornets for the second consecutive day. Rupa improved to 15-14 on the year with the effort after allowing seven hits and striking out seven.