Fort Hays State 8 Wayne State 6
Wayne State hit two home runs and had five extra base hits, but fell to Fort Hays State 8-6 Monday afternoon to close out play at the Washburn Invitational Softball Tournament in Topeka, Kansas. The Wildcats are now 2-11 on the year while the Tigers move to 7-11 with the win.
WSC held a slight 11-10 hit advantage over Fort Hays State, but the Tigers took advantage of six Wildcat walks with four of the six walks eventually crossing home plate in the FHSU win.
Fort Hays State opened the scoring with two runs in the top of the second for a 2-0 lead.
The Wildcats got on the board in the bottom of the second when
Michaela Smith and
Paiton Tornberg hit back-to-back doubles with two outs for the first WSC run.
In the third inning,
Kortney Buresh and
Kim Vidlak each singled with
Kamryn Sparks blasting a three-run homer over the right center field fence putting the Wildcats in front 4-2.
The Tigers regained the lead in the fourth inning with three runs for a 5-4 lead and added two more runs in the sixth for a 7-4 advantage.
Wayne State cut into the Tiger lead in the bottom of the sixth when Tornberg singled and scored on a
Madison Gomez two-run homer to left center field to make the score 7-6.
Fort Hays State added an insurance run in the top of the seventh with a solo homer for the 8-6 victory.
Gomez was 2 for 3 with a home run and two RBI to lead a balanced Wildcat hitting attack. Tornberg and Vidlak each finished 2 for 4 with both players recording doubles. Sparks added a three-run homer.
Starting pitcher
Hadley Chvatal suffered the pitching loss in four innings of work. Freshman Sami Felt fired the final three innings.
Wayne State resumes play on Sunday, March 6th when the Wildcats begin their annual spring break trip to Florida. The Wildcats face Lewis (Ill.) at 8 a.m. Sunday morning at the National Training Center Spring Games in Clermont, Florida.
