Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

The Tiger softball team split its final two games in Florida on Saturday (Mar. 9) with a 12-2 win over 24th-ranked Winona State and then a 4-1 loss to Grand Valley State. Fort Hays State moved to 13-3 overall on the season.

Fort Hays State 12, No. 24 Winona State 2

The Tigers picked up a big in-region win, scoring its most runs so far this year with 12 against Winona State. FHSU jumped out to a 2-0 lead after one inning when Maddie Holub scored on a passed ball and Amanda Vaupel had a RBI single, but Winona State tied the game in the bottom half of the inning with a 2-RBI double.

From that point, Maddie Holub would settle in at pitcher, keeping the Warriors off the board the rest of the way. She helped her own cause by hitting a two-run home run in the third to break the tie. Later, she hit another two-run home run, part of a six-run sixth inning for FHSU that helped push FHSU to the run-rule win.

Danie Brinkmann had a RBI groundout in the fourth, coupled with another Vaupel RBI single that pushed the advantage to 6-2. Paxton Duran, Tori Beltz, Callie Wright, and Bianca Adame all had RBIs in the six-run sixth for FHSU.

Holub moved to 7-0 overall on the season, striking out 13, while allowing four hits and three walks.

This was the second win over a ranked opponent in Florida for FHSU after defeating No. 11 Tampa once in a doubleheader on Wednesday.

Grand Valley State 4, Fort Hays State 1

An error by the Tigers in the first inning led to two of three runs being unearned for the Lakers. Grand Valley jumped out to a 3-0 lead after a half inning, but FHSU got one run back in the bottom of the first on a Maddie Holub RBI single.

That would be all the scoring for the Tigers as they had eight hits in the game but could not push any more runs across. Grand Valley tacked on its final run in the third.

Paxton Duran took the loss for FHSU, allowing eight hits and four walks in 5.0 innings. She struck out five and only two of the four runs she allowed were earned. Duran moved to 5-3 overall on the season.

Fort Hays State returns to action on Tuesday at Newman University in Wichita, Kan.