DENVER, Co. – The Fort Hays State softball team dropped two meetings against Metro State on Tuesday, its first of four games in Colorado. The Roadrunners claimed the first game 9-1 in five innings, followed by a 6-4 win over the Tigers in the second. With the two losses, the Tigers drop to 7-21 overall while holding a 3-5 MIAA mark.
 
Game 1: Metro State 9, Fort Hays State 1
 
The Roadrunners of Metro State climbed out to a 3-0 lead over the Tigers and never gave up that advantage as they went on to take game one of the matchup 9-1 over FHSU. The Tigers would get on the board in the second inning after Lily Sale singled up the middle to bring in Sara Breckbill. That would be the lone run for the Tigers as the Roadrunners maintained control the remaining three innings of the contest to claim their 11^th win of the season.
 
Two homers from Metro State in both the second and fourth innings helped to clinch the victory for the Roadrunners, with Alyssa Richter taking a long ball off Hailey Chapman on the mound to go up 4-1. A pitching change in the fourth inning for the Tigers put Megan Jamison in the circle to try and work back into the deficit. However, the a grand slam off the bat of Megan Sansburn for the Roadrunners increased the Metro State lead to 8-1 in the fourth. Annike Anderson closed out the scoring in the first meeting after her single down the third base line sent Ashlee Kim home to give the Roadrunners the 9-1 win.
 
The Tigers were able to connect with three hits in the contest as Candace Bollig, Bailey Boxberger and Sale each accounted for one. Fort Hays State was able to get on base, but offensive struggles left nine Tigers on.
 
Chapman took the loss to drop to 2-12 on the season in her three innings pitched on the day. Chapman gave up seven Roadrunner runs alongside three hits while walking four.
 
Game 2: Metro State 6, Fort Hays State 4
In a more offensive outing for the Tigers, Sara Breckbill connected on two home runs. However, the power hitting was not enough as the Roadrunners took game two 6-4 over Fort Hays State.
 
The Tigers had their first lead of the day after a Breckbill homer in the second inning put them on the board first. However, the lead did not last long as a single up the middle from Megan Sansburn sent two Metro State players home to go up 2-1. A big triple from Ashlee Kim scored two more runners to double the Roadrunner's score at 4-1.
 
The fourth inning was again started off with a long ball from Breckbill to lessen the deficit at 4-2, but a Sansburn double and Annika Anderson single sent two across the plate to give Metro State the 6-2 advantage in the fourth. That would be all the scoring for the Roadrunners, but the Tigers were not done yet. Bailey Boxberger soared a double out to left field two send two of her Tiger teammates home. Although the bats were hitting harder in the second game, the late hits were not enough as the Roadrunners claimed the 6-4 win through the full game.
 
The Tigers calculated ten hits, led by Breckbill and Terran Caldwell with three a piece. Alongside the four runs brought in, five Tigers were left on base.
 
On the mound, Sierra Rodriguez pitched the whole game, but dropped to 5-7 on the season. Rodriguez gave up 13 hits while walking one. The freshman accounted for four strikeouts during her appearance. Destinee Lopez picked up the W for the Roadrunners through 4.1 innings pitched. Lopez improves to 2-4 on the season. 
 
 
The Tigers are back on the field in Colorado Wednesday for an afternoon double-header against 23-2 Colorado Christian. First pitch for game one is set for 1 p.m. CST.