CLAREMORE, Okla. – Fort Hays State saw any hopes of a push for the MIAA Tournament dashed on Friday with a pair of shutout losses to Rogers State. Tiger pitchers Savanah Egger and Bailey Carlson both had strong performances in the circle, only to be upstaged by Andrea Morales and M'Kayla Hillman who combined to keep the Tiger offense scoreless on the day. No. 6 ranked Rogers State moved to 41-9 overall, 18-6 in the MIAA, while FHSU is now 23-28-1 overall, 9-15 in the MIAA.
Game 1: Rogers State 1, Fort Hays State 0
Andrea Morales of Rogers State, one of the top pitchers in the nation, darted postseason hopes for the Tigers in the first contest of the day by throwing a 14 strikeout no-hitter. She was just two strikeouts shy of her single-game career high and she fanned eight of the first nine Tigers she faced in the game. Morales ran her season strikeout total to 240 in her winning effort.
Savanah Egger did her best to match Morales, but her only mistake was a solo home run allowed to Elexis Watson with two outs in the second inning. She limited the Hillcats to just three other hits and did not allow any other runners past second base. She finished with eight strikeouts in the tough-luck complete-game loss.
Game 2: Rogers State 2, Fort Hays State 0
Bailey Carlson did all she could through five innings to keep the Hillcat offense at bay as she was on track to match Morales' no-hit feat from game one. Carlson held the Hillcats hitless through 5.1 innings until Kimberli Presnell broke up the no-no bid with a single in the sixth. A two-out walk then put runners at first and second and Lana Gass broke the seal on a scoreless tie with an RBI single. Elexis Watson then added another RBI single to make it 2-0 in favor of RSU.
That was all M'Kayla Hillman needed from her offense as she managed to keep the Tigers scoreless. Regan Curry and Adysen Burghart had the only two hits in the game for FHSU, occurring in the third and fifth innings. Hillman finished with four strikeouts and surrendered just two walks in her complete-game shutout.
Carlson like Egger took a tough complete-game loss, surrendering just the three hits in the sixth inning. She struck out three and walked three.
The Tigers will close out their season on Saturday at Northeastern State with a doubleheader starting at 12 p.m. in Tahlequah.
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