FHSU Athletics
WICHITA FALLS, Texas – Fort Hays State Softball moved to 4-0 to open the 2024 season after another pair of masterful pitching performances from Morgan Schmidt and Savanah Egger on Saturday. The Tigers won both of their games by shutout, defeating Southwestern Oklahoma State 4-0 and Cameron 1-0. The Sunday portion of the weekend's play was canceled due to inclement weather entering the area.
The Tigers kept their trend of scoring early and making it stick with their pitching and defense. FHSU scored in the first inning of both contests on Saturday, continuing a trend it started on Friday in the wins over Midwestern State and Northwestern Oklahoma State.
Fort Hays State 4, Southwestern Oklahoma 0
The Tigers methodically marched their way to a 4-0 win over the Bulldogs of Southwestern Oklahoma State behind a complete-game shutout from Morgan Schmidt. Schmidt navigated around five hits and four walks to keep the Bulldogs scoreless, while striking out five.
FHSU rallied for its first run of the game in the first inning, doing all of its damage with two outs. Alondra Dominguez and Madison Pierce both singled before Loren Beggs walked to load the bases. Carly Stuke was then hit by a pitch to plate the game's first tally.
Pierce and Beggs started a rally for the Tigers in the third with back-to-back singles. A Stuke walk loaded the bases and then a Regan Curry RBI single made it 2-0.After Schmidt escaped a two-out bases-loaded situation in the top of the fifth, the Tiger offense gave her more support in the sixth when back to back hits by Peyton Shepard and Sarah Tiffany made it 3-0. Moments later, Pierce knocked in Tiffany with a hit to make the eventual final margin of 4-0.
Schmidt allowed only one hit through the first four innings. She closed out the game with a flyout in another bases-loaded two-out situation in the seventh to preserve her shutout.
The Tiger finished with 10 hits in the contest, led by Pierce with three and Tiffany and Beggs with two each. Beggs got on base four times in the game, adding a pair of walks to her 2-for-2 effort at the plate.
Fort Hays State 1, Cameron 0
Game two of the day for the Tigers was an old-fashioned pitching duel between Savanah Egger and Tinley Schmidgall. The Tigers once again jumped ahead 1-0 in the first inning, and that's all they would need for Egger as she notched her first shutout of the season.
Egger retired the first four batters of the game, surrendered a hit with one out in the second, then surrendered her final hit with two outs in the third. She went on to hold the Aggies hitless over the final four innings and close the book on a perfect weekend for the Tigers.
An error by the Aggies in the first inning set up the game's only run as Loren Beggs poked a ground-rule double scoring Sarah Tiffany, who walked earlier in the inning. The Tigers collected just four hits in the game, with two by Aubrey Martinez. Regan Curry and Beggs with her run-scoring double were the other two.
Egger recorded her second-straight 8-strikeout game of the weekend, while walking only two in her two-hit shutout. Schmidgall took a tough-luck loss for Cameron with no earned runs allowed. She struck out one and walked one in her complete-game effort for the Aggies.
UP NEXT
Fort Hays State returns to action next week in Bethany and Edmond in the Oklahoma City area for six games against region opponents all from the Great American Conference. The Tigers play two games each day Thursday through Saturday (Feb. 15-17).