Newman (15-25, 6-12 MIAA) at
Fort Hays State (22-23-1, 8-10 MIAA)
Friday, April 22 – 2 pm (DH)
Hays, Kan. – Tiger Stadium
 
#4 Central Oklahoma (38-6, 17-1 MIAA) at
Fort Hays State
Saturday, April 23 – 12 pm (DH)
Hays, Kan. – Tiger Stadium
 
Fort Hays State Softball will play its final two home doubleheaders of the season on Friday and Saturday (Apr. 22-23) when Newman and Central Oklahoma travel to Hays. The Tigers will host Newman on Friday starting at 2 p.m., and then Central Oklahoma on Saturday starting at 12 p.m. Seniors will be recognized between games on Saturday.
 
The Tigers enter this weekend on a five-game win streak, which goes back to a win in game two at Northwest Missouri State back on Tuesday, April 12. The Tigers then went on to sweep doubleheaders at home last weekend against Central Missouri and Lincoln. The Tigers have surged back into the race to qualify for the MIAA Tournament, which will feature the top eight teams in the regular season standings. FHSU is currently in ninth at 8-10, just a game back of Missouri Western at 9-9.
 
Newman enters their week of play at 15-25 overall and 6-12 in the MIAA. The Jets will face Nebraska-Kearney on Thursday before making the trip to Hays on Friday. The Jets went 1-3 in MIAA play last weekend, but that one win was against a No. 2 ranked Rogers State squad that also went 1-3 for the week and fell to No. 8 in the national rankings. Rogers State's other two losses for the week were against then No. 8 ranked Central Oklahoma, which moved up to No. 4 in the national poll this week. Fort Hays State holds a 28-7 advantage over Newman in the all-time series and won both games of a doubleheader in 2021 in Wichita by scores of 6-2 and 9-1. The last time FHSU and Newman played a doubleheader in Hays was during the 2019 season with FHSU sweeping the pair by scores of 3-1 and 3-2.
 
Central Oklahoma enters its weekend on an 11-game win streak, now at 38-6 overall and 17-1 in the MIAA for the season. As mentioned above, Central Oklahoma swept a top-10 matchup with Rogers State last week in Edmond to move up from No. 8 to No. 4 in the national rankings. Fort Hays State has played spoiler to nationally ranked Central Oklahoma teams in recent years. In 2019, the Tigers earned a split in Hays by knocking off a No. 2 ranked Bronchos squad on a walk-off hit by Sara Breckbill in an extra-inning contest. Back in 2015, the Tigers knocked off a No. 19 ranked Broncho squad in Hays for a doubleheader split. FHSU has never swept UCO in MIAA play, but did sweep UCO in a 2011 doubleheader before they were a member of the MIAA. UCO leads the all-time series 19-7.
 
Sarah Tiffany leads the Tigers with a .347 batting average for the season, followed by Loren Beggs at .336. Beggs is the team leader in extra-base hits with 16, which includes a team-best 13 doubles that ranks fifth in the MIAA. Sara Breckbill leads a group of five players with 20 or more RBIs for the season. She has 29 and she is also tied for the national lead in sacrifice flies with seven. The Tigers as a team lead NCAA Division II with 24 sacrifice flies this season. The Tigers nearly have four players with .400 or better on-base percentages this season. Jessica Espinoza leads that group at .444, followed by Tiffany (.416), Adysen Burghart (.400) and Loren Beggs (.399).
 
In the pitching circle, Morgan Schmidt turned in a strong performance last week with 25 strikeouts in 17 innings. She fanned a season-high 12 batters at Northwest Missouri State, then struck out 10 against Lincoln. Both of those games were complete-game wins for Schmidt that ended in run rule after six innings. Savanah Egger yielded just one run in 13 innings last weekend in Hays and continues to lead the team in ERA (3.26) and strikeouts (119) in 131 innings pitched. Egger's four saves ranks sixth best in NCAA Division II. Bailey Carlson kept the opposition scoreless last week in her two appearances that spanned 4.1 innings. Carlson holds a 4.30 ERA for the season.