Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 The 18th-ranked Fort Hays State softball team swept a big doubleheader with 24th-ranked Missouri Western on Friday (Apr. 5) at Tiger Stadium in Hays. The Tigers won an epic game one battle between two of the top pitchers in the conference in 12 innings by a score of 2-1, then took the second game in run-rule fashion 11-3 in six innings. Fort Hays State moved to 31-5 overall, 11-1 in the MIAA, while Missouri Western went to 24-10, 8-4 in the MIAA.

Game 1: Fort Hays State 2, Missouri Western 1 (12 inn.)

Game one featured a match-up between two of the best pitchers in the MIAA, Maddie Holub of FHSU and Jackie Bishop of MWSU. Both pitchers kept the opposition off the scoreboard through nine innings before the international tiebreaker was put into effect.

In the 10th, the third extra inning of action, Missouri Western finally broke through with the first run when the runner placed on second to start the inning scored on a triple by Sarah Elliott with one out. Holub buckled down to get out of the inning with just the one run allowed.

Fort Hays State was down to its last out in the bottom of the 10th when Bianca Adame delivered a clutch RBI double down the left field line to plate the runner from second base, tying the game at 1-1.

Holub got a pair of strikeouts to end the MWSU threat in the 11th, but she lined a ball to center field to leadoff the bottom half of the inning and Courtney Dobson was thrown out at third trying to tag on the flyout at third base.

In the 12th, Holub stranded the runner at third by getting her 17th strikeout of the game to end the MWSU half of the inning, breaking her single-game strikeout record of 16, which she reached four times prior all in seven-inning contests.

In the bottom of the 12th, Amanda Vaupel got a sacrifice bunt down to get Danie Brinkmann to third. Adara Erickson came in to pinch run for Brinkmann at third, which set the stage for Jenna Lang. Lang hit a hard chopper back up the middle that the shortstop was unable to field cleanly, but Erickson was running on contact and made it home easily to give FHSU the win in the fifth extra inning.

In her 12-inning complete game, Holub allowed six hits, hit four batters, and walked one to go with her 17 strikeouts. The run she allowed was unearned. She moved to 16-1 overall with the win.

Bishop also went the distance for Missouri Western, pitching 11.1 innings with only three hits allowed, five walks, and 11 strikeouts. She went to 12-4 with the loss. Both Holub and Bishop were All-MIAA First Team selections last year and Bishop was the MIAA Pitcher of the Year in 2012.

Game 2: Fort Hays State 11, Missouri Western 3

With the Tiger offense limited to just three hits in the first game, the bats came alive in game two as Fort Hays State plated three runs in the first, four in the second, and two in the third to take a commanding 9-0 lead early.

The first inning featured five straight singles by the Tigers to lead off the game. Amanda Vaupel had a RBI single and Tori Beltz plated two more runs with the sixth single of the inning.

In the second, Amy Dunn scored on a throwing error by the right fielder on a Maddie Holub single. Vaupel drove in another run when she was hit by a pitch, and Jenna Lang had a two-RBI single. In the third, Danie Brinkmann had a bases-loaded RBI single and Vaupel followed with a sacrifice fly RBI.

Missouri Western scored twice in the fourth and once in the fifth to pull back within six at 9-3, but Fort Hays State scored one run each in the fifth and sixth to win by run-rule. Vaupel had her second sacrifice fly RBI of the game to plate the run in the fifth and Courtney Dobson had a walk-off RBI single up the middle to score a runner from second to end the game in the sixth.

Paxton Duran pitched a complete game for the Tigers, moving to 13-4 on the season. She allowed three hits with three walks and struck out one. Only one of the three runs she allowed was earned.

Janie Smith took the loss for Missouri Western, going to 12-4, allowing nine of the 11 runs. Emily Moe pitched the final 2.2 innings, allowing the final two runs (one earned).

Fort Hays State turns around to face Northwest Missouri State on Saturday (Apr. 6) at 12 pm at Tiger Stadium in Hays.