Fort Hays State Softball plays host to Emporia State and Washburn this week in another pair of MIAA doubleheaders. The games moved up two days on the calendar due to the impending forecast for the weekend, so FHSU hosts Emporia State on Wednesday (Apr. 4) starting at 3 pm, then Washburn on Thursday (Apr. 5) starting at 2 pm.
 
After going 0-4 in MIAA play last week, the Tigers are in need of a strong finish with 10 conference games remaining on the schedule. FHSU enters the week 5-11 in MIAA play, now 12^th in the standings. The top eight teams in the conference qualify for the MIAA Tournament at the end of this month. FHSU is 9-29 overall.
 
Emporia State comes into the week 14-24 overall and 5-9 in the MIAA. Last week the Hornets split a doubleheader with Northeastern State before dropping both games of an MIAA doubleheader with Washburn. The Hornets and Ichabods played a non-conference doubleheader the following day, with the Hornets earning a split in that twinbill.
 
Washburn enters this week on top of the MIAA standings with a record of 11-1 in conference play. The Ichabods are 27-8 overall. Washburn had an eight-game win streak halted by Emporia State this past Saturday in a non-conference doubleheader. Washburn will play at Nebraska-Kearney on Wednesday before heading to Hays on Thursday. After splitting their first conference doubleheader of the season with Central Oklahoma, the Ichabods have won their last 10 MIAA contests.
 
Grace Philop continues to lead FHSU in hitting with a .352 batting average for the season. Candace Bollig, Bailey Boxberger, and Terran Caldwell are all north of the .300 mark as well. However, the Tigers have struggled with scoring opportunities and finding timely hits this year, well indicated by averages in two-out situations. Philop has thrived in two-out situations this year, hitting .500, while Caldwell is batting .303 in the situation. They are the only players of the four with overall averages above .300 currently hitting over .300 in two-out situations. Sara Breckbill is the only other Tiger with a two-out batting average above .300, currently at .310, while her overall is at .287.
 
Tiger pitching has seen improvement over the last 10 games, holding a staff ERA of 4.04 in that span. That is well below the 5.60 team ERA for the season. They held the opposition to three or less runs in five of the last 10 games, but came away with wins in just two of those five. The Tiger offense has struggled of late, averaging just two runs per contest in that span as they were held to one run or less six times.