Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

The 18th-ranked Fort Hays State softball team split a doubleheader at Central Missouri on Sunday (Apr. 21). The Tigers won game one 7-0 with a one-hitter thrown by Maddie Holub, then fell by run-rule in game two 10-2 in five innings. Fort Hays State moved to 38-8 overall and 18-4 in the MIAA. Central Missouri went to 23-19 overall and 13-11 in the MIAA.

Game 1: Fort Hays State 7, Central Missouri 0

Maddie Holub was just one out away from throwing back-to-back no-hitters, but a double by Jackie Prater in the seventh with two outs kept Holub from a hitless weekend in the circle. However, she bounced back to get the final out with her 12th strikeout of the game. She was just one batter over the minimum prior to the double with a walk allowed in the first inning. Holub collected her 10th shutout of the season in the circle and moved to 22-1 on the season, lowering her ERA to 0.65 for the season.

Holub got plenty of offensive support early as the Tigers scored five runs in the second and four were unearned courtesy of an error by the Mules. Tori Beltz and Kellsi Olsen each scored on the error off the bat of Callie Wright. Later in the inning, Courtney Dobson had a RBI single and Holub hit a two-run home run.

In the fourth, Holub hit her second home run of the game with a solo shot and Tori Beltz had a RBI single. Beltz finished the game 3-for-3 at the plate. Holub was 3-for-4.

Game 2: Central Missouri 10, Fort Hays State 2

After nearly getting no-hit in the first game, Central Missouri's offense came alive in game two, scoring three in the first, four in the second, one in the third, and two in the fourth on its way to a run-rule win. The Jennies returned the favor as Jessica Wilkes held FHSU to just one hit in the abbreviated five-inning game.

After Maddie Holub of FHSU had two homers in the first game, Jackie Prater, who broke up Holub's no-hitter in game one, had two home runs and five RBI for the Jennies. Emily Bybee-King also had a two-run homer for UCM and had three RBI in the game.

Fort Hays State pushed across its only two runs of the game in the fourth on a wild pitch and a fielding error by the Jennies. Paxton Duran had the only hit of the game for the Tigers, a single.

Duran took the loss as nine of her 10 runs allowed were earned. She gave up 12 hits and struck out four. She is now 14-7 on the season.

With the loss, Fort Hays State fell one game back of Central Oklahoma for first place in the MIAA. The Tigers go on the road for a conference doubleheader at Nebraska-Kearney on Tuesday (Apr. 23) and then return home for the regular season finale, a doubleheader against Lincoln on Friday (Apr. 26).