Emporia State (38-18) at No. 10 Fort Hays State (45-10) NCAA Central Regional 1 Tournament Hays, Kan. - Tiger Stadium - 5:30 pm Live Stats I Live Audio

The Fort Hays State softball team opens the Central Regional of the NCAA Tournament with Emporia State on Friday evening (May 10) at 5:30 pm. FHSU is the host of the tournament at Tiger Stadium in Hays. Fort Hays State enters the tournament at 45-10 overall and ranked No. 10 in the nation, while Emporia State enters at 38-18 overall.

Fort Hays State is coming off winning the MIAA Championship Tournament in Overland Park, Kan. this past weekend. The Tigers met Emporia State in the championship, but had to play the Hornets twice to win the championship after suffering their first loss of the tournament in the first championship game 1-0. The Tigers bounced back from a 2-0 deficit in game two to win 7-4 and claim their first-ever MIAA Championship in softball.

This is the second appearance ever for FHSU Softball in the NCAA Tournament. Fort Hays State also qualified for the NCAA Tournament in 2003 as members of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference when they won the RMAC Tournament. By winning the tournament, the Tigers grabbed the automatic bid for the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference in the South Central Regional. The tournament that year took place in San Antonio, Texas. That team won 35 games, which was a single-season record at FHSU until this year as the Tigers are already 10 wins past that mark.

Fort Hays State meets Emporia State for the fifth time this year. The Tigers swept a doubleheader in Emporia during the conference regular season, then split with the Hornets in the MIAA Championship Games last weekend. Fort Hays State will face either Central Oklahoma or Minot State in its second game of the tournament as those teams play the first game of the tournament at 3 pm on Friday.