Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

Fort Hays State suffered its first loss of the season by a score of 6-1 to Illinois-Springfield, but bounced back to defeat conference foe Nebraska-Kearney 6-0 to go 1-1 on Sunday (Feb. 17) at the Bentonville Tournament. Fort Hays State is now 7-1 overall.

Illinois-Springfield 6, Fort Hays State 1

Illinois-Springfield scored five of its six runs over the final two innings to hand Fort Hays State its first loss of the season. The Prairie Stars took the lead initially in the fourth with a RBI-double by Shannon Mitchell in the top of the fourth, but Maddie Holub responded with a solo home run in the bottom half of the inning to tie the score 1-1.

A two-RBI triple by Katelyn Weaver of UIS in the sixth with two outs turned out to be the decisive hit in the game. The Prairie Stars added one more run in the inning and then a pair in the seventh to pull away.

The Tigers had a difficult time solving Cheyanne Bowman, who allowed just three hits. She walked five batters and Fort Hays State left seven runners on base in the game.

Paxton Duran went the distance for FHSU. Five of her six runs allowed were earned. She surrendered six hits and struck out a season-high 10 batters. She is now 3-1 on the season.

Fort Hays State 6, Nebraska-Kearney 0

Maddie Holub dominated Nebraska-Kearney for the second time this year, striking out 12 batters in a complete-game shutout effort. She walked two and allowed four hits, moving to 3-0 on the year. Holub has now went 23.0 innings without allowing an earned run to start the year.

Holub put the Tigers up 1-0 in the first with a RBI groundout. Amanda Vaupel added to it later in the inning by knocking in Danie Brinkmann with a RBI single. Brinkmann had a double after Holub's groundout.

The Tigers scored a pair of unearned runs in the third. Vaupel added to her RBI total with a groundout that knocked in a run. Bianca Adame scored earlier in the inning on an error by the Lopers.

In the fifth, Tori Beltz capped the Tiger scoring with a two-RBI single.

Bailey Backhuus took the loss for UNK, going 4.2 innings before being relieved. She was responsible for all six Tiger runs, four which were earned.