PITTSBURG - The Pittsburg State University softball team came away with a split against the Rogers State University Hillcats on Friday (Apr. 3) at the Pittsburg State Softball Field.

Pittsburg State (35-2, 9-1 MIAA) in game one, lost 8-6 before responding with a resounding 5-1 victory over Rogers State (25-11, 9-5 MIAA) in the second game of a conference doubleheader.

In the first inning of game one, Lexi Davis singled home Heather Arnett to give the Gorillas an early 1-0 lead. Jaden Jordan got Rogers State on the board in the second inning with a solo home run that went past the trees in center field, Haili Igou for Pitt State countered with a solo home run, her fifth of the season in the bottom half of the inning to give the Gorillas a 2-1 lead.

RSU in the fourth inning took the lead (3-2) with an RBI single from Saylor Brown and a sacrifice fly from Karlee Smith. In the fifth inning the Hillcats added four runs in the top half to extend the lead out to 7-2. Pittsburg State retalited with four runs in the bottom half of the inning, Davis walked home Arnett, Sailor Hall and Haili Igou recorded RBIs and Kyleigh Lamont singled home Hall to cut the defecit to 7-6. Rogers State added an insurance run off a double steal in the seventh as the Gorillas got the bases loaded with one out and were unable to push a run across. 

For game two, Lexi Franklin (10-0) got the complete game win while surrendering an earned run and five hits to RSU. Kinsley Hill (9-2) who is the back-to-back MIAA Pitcher of the Week saw her streak of scoreless innings stop at 28.1, giving up seven hits and five earned runs in 5.0 innings in the loss. 

Mariah Belzer led off the game with a solo home run for Rogers State before a Kadyn Trochim sacrifice fly in the bottom half of the inning to tie things up 1-1. In the third inning, Trochim collected her second home run of the season to make it a 3-1 lead for the Gorillas. Davis and Hall hit back-to-back solo home runs in the sixth to provide the 5-1 final score. 

Up next for Pittsburg State will be the Drury University Panthers on Tuesday (Apr. 7). First pitch from the Pittsburg State Softball Field is set for 3:00 p.m. (CDT) in a non conference doubleheader.

Notes: The game one loss snapped a 30 game winning streak at home that is a program record and was the first loss in the regular season at home since 2023. The 55 game regular season home winning streak is the longest known regular season winning streak in Division II history.