Fort Hays State (23-26-1, 9-13 MIAA) at
No. 6 Rogers State (39-9, 16-6 MIAA)
Friday, April 29 – 1 p.m. (DH)
Claremore, Okla. – Diamond Sports Complex
 
Fort Hays State at
Northeastern State (24-23, 12-10 MIAA)
Saturday, April 30 – 12 pm (DH)
Tahlequah, Okla. – RiverHawks Park
 
Fort Hays State Softball heads on the road for a pair of MIAA doubleheaders to wrap up the 2022 regular season on Friday and Saturday (Apr. 29-30). The Tigers play a doubleheader in Claremore at Rogers State on Friday at 1 p.m. before heading over to Tahlequah for a doubleheader with Northeastern State on Saturday at 12 p.m.
 
The chase for an MIAA Tournament berth is on this weekend among seven teams vying for the final five spots in the eight-team tournament, which will take place next week at Gerry Pinkston Stadium, the home field of Central Oklahoma in Edmond. The seven teams still alive to clinch a potential spot includes Missouri Western, Nebraska-Kearney, Missouri Southern, Northeastern State, Emporia State, Fort Hays State, and Newman.
 
The Tigers enter the week at 23-26-1 overall, 9-13 in the MIAA. They first head to the place where their season ended in 2021 in the opening round of the MIAA Tournament. Rogers State has put together a great season so far, entering Friday at 39-9 overall, 16-6 in the MIAA, and ranked No. 6 in NCAA Division II. The Hillcats reached as high as No. 2 in the national rankings two weeks ago, but they have sputtered to just a 2-6 record in their last two weekends of conference play.
 
After winning the first game of a doubleheader in Wichita at Newman on April 15, Rogers State sat at 36-3 overall and led the MIAA at 15-0. But the Hillcats' first blemish in conference play came just a short while later when Newman handed them their first conference loss. A day later in a top-10 national ranked match up, the Hillcats were swept at Central Oklahoma. The following week saw RSU sweep a non-conference doubleheader with Harding University before running into more troubles on the road in conference play when it split with Emporia State and was swept by Washburn. With that doubleheader sweep, Washburn vaulted into the MIAA lead at 22-2 and completed a perfect 26-0 mark at home in Topeka. Washburn, Central Oklahoma, and Rogers State are all in the clear for spots in the MIAA Tournament.
 
Fort Hays State seeks its first win(s) at Rogers State, where it is winless in five tries. The only win for the Tigers over the Hillcats in the brief all-time series history occurred last year during a doubleheader split in Hays.
 
The Tigers will play at Northeastern State for the first time since the 2018 season. FHSU won three of the last four meetings between the teams, all in Hays. Northeastern State won its last three games against FHSU in Tahlequah, but FHSU won the first three meetings of the six-total played in Tahlequah between the schools. Northeastern State, entering the weekend at 24-23 overall (12-10 MIAA), and FHSU are both in the mix for the final five positions in the MIAA Tournament.
 
Fort Hays State's most favorable route to a potential conference tournament berth rides on how it performs at Rogers State coupled with how Northeastern State does against Nebraska-Kearney on Friday. An FHSU sweep at RSU and a RiverHawk split with UNK would keep FHSU in control of its destiny on Saturday, or an FHSU split and a UNK sweep would also have the Tigers in control of their destiny going into Saturday as well. Any way you slice it though, FHSU will need to win at least one at Rogers State and then get help to stay alive in the chase for the conference tournament. There are a few other scenarios where FHSU may have a route into the MIAA Tournament, but after being swept by Missouri Western, Nebraska-Kearney, and Missouri Southern, the Tigers do not hold many tiebreak scenarios on the teams still alive for the tournament in front of them in the MIAA standings.
 
Not only does FHSU have a chance to make a charge for the MIAA Tournament, it also has a chance to finish with a winning record overall in regular season play if it wins all four games this week. Four wins would also give Fort Hays State its most in a season under head coach Adrian Pilkington as 26 in 2015 is the high mark during her eight-year tenure.
 
Sarah Tiffany leads the Tigers in batting average at .353 for the season and Loren Beggs is not far behind at .343. Jessica Espinoza, Regan Curry, and Lindsey Kelly are also north of .300 for the season, while Madison Pierce sits just below at .299. Pierce and Sara Breckbill lead the Tigers in home runs, each with seven. Breckbill and Curry are tied for the team lead in RBIs, each with 30. Pierce, Tiffany, and Beggs all have more than 20 RBIs on the season.
 
Savanah Egger leads the Tigers in the pitching circle with a 3.25 ERA in 142 innings. She has 129 strikeouts to rank fifth in the MIAA, and she is tied for the conference lead in saves with four. Morgan Schmidt has 47 strikeouts in her last 31.1 innings of work and now ranks ninth in the MIAA for strikeouts with 104 for the season. Bailey Carlson is among the top 20 in the MIAA in both ERA (4.54) and opponent batting average (.286) while only allowing four home runs, which is second best in the MIAA.