Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Kearney, Neb. – Junior Meg Housholder threw a complete game three-hitter and freshman center fielder Nicole Spykstra went 2 for 3 with an RBI to help Nebraska-Kearney beat Fort Hays State, 2-1, in the first game of a double header Saturday afternoon in Kansas.

UNK (10-44, 6-20) was one strike away from a sweep but third baseman Candace Bolling hit a two-run walk-off homer in the seventh to lift the Tigers to a 5-4 victory. It was Bolling's second two-run shot of the game and marked her first two homers of the year.

Housholder (Parker, Colo.) picked up her fifth win by blanking the Tigers (15-39, 7-19) over the first four innings. Throwing just 85 pitches, she fanned two, walked three and allowed only three singles.

Offensively, UNK scored an unearned run in the second when freshman designated player Sara Sempek (Papillion) hit a single to right and took second thanks to an error. She eventually scored on an RBI single by senior left fielder Taylre Keenan (Ralston).

Hays tied things in the fifth but Housholder got out of a bases loaded jam as Bolling (1 for 3) hit into a fielder's choice. In the very next inning, freshman catcher Alexis Howe (Papillion) led off with a double and scored as Spykstra (Chandler, Ariz.) hit a single up the middle.

On the season, Spykstra and Keenan are the only Lopers to have started all 54 games. Spykstra currently leads in batting average (.345), hits (57), doubles (13), total bases (75), slugging (.455) and on-base (.358) percentages.

In game two, Bolling's first homer came in the third and gave Hays a 3-1 lead. Senior infielder Molly Stern (2 for 3, two runs) scored on a wild pitch in the fifth and then UNK scored twice in the seventh to take the lead.

The tying run came home thanks to an RBI single by Howe (2 for 3, two RBI's). While she was caught in a run down between first and second, Stern came all the way from first base to tally the go-ahead run.

Hays quickly countered with a lead off double but that Tiger was thrown out a third on a fielder's choice. After an infield pop up, Bolling strode to the plate. The three-hole hitter belted the second 3-2 pitch she saw over the center field wall.

Besides Howe and Stern, Lincoln junior outfielder Kaela Samek (2 for 4, two runs) and Spykstra (2 for 4) had multi-hit efforts for Kearney.

These same two teams play again Sunday at 1:00 p.m. These will be non-conference games.