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ALVA, Okla. – The Rogers State softball team closed the 2014 season at Northwestern Oklahoma State dropping both games of a doubleheader Saturday afternoon 10-4 and 6-0 at the Alva Recreation Complex.

Cailin Simpson paced the offense going 5-for-7 from the plate while Yolanda Rios and Jackie Flores tagged solo home runs in the opener.

GAME ONE
The Hillcats slugged 10 hits but were thrown out at the plate twice as one big inning proved the difference in the Rangers claiming game one, 10-4.

NWOSU capitalized on three RSU errors in the opening frame to post five runs behind four hits, including a two-run single by Shyanne Nichols.

RSU starter Rios helped her own cause in the second inning sending a low, one-out pitch high into the scorching afternoon sky for her second home run of the season putting the Softball Cats on the board trailing, 5-1.

After the Rangers added two runs in the bottom of the third, RSU answered back plating a pair in the fourth on a two-run error on Katie Ellington's sacrifice bunt attempt with Rios and Makenzie Kirk already in scoring position.

A two-out, three-run home run by NWOSU's Sylvana Kelley in the fifth pushed the game to the brink as the Rangers used two more errors to their advantage with all runs scoring unearned.

Flores led the top of the sixth with her first home run as a Hillcat in her final series sending a line drive over the fence in left, but the team could not get any closer falling 10-4.

Simpson recorded three hits in the loss while Rios and Candace Monigold each added two hits.

Shelby Anderson picked up the win for the Rangers scattering eight hits and three runs, one earned, over five innings. Rios was charged with the loss throwing the complete game for RSU allowing 10 runs, five earned, striking out five.

GAME TWO
RSU was limited to just four hits in the second game of the twin bill but was within striking distance until the late innings when the Rangers closed the game 6-0 for the sweep. Simpson and Kirk led RSU collecting all four hits in its season finale.

NWOSU got a solo home run in the second to open the scoring as Rios and reliever Brooklyne Harbert allowed four hits over the first four innings keeping the deficit to one.

The Hillcats got a single by Simpson starting the fourth and Taran Threet walked moving her into scoring position with one out, but Rangers' pitcher Kellie Mason escaped the jam with the slim lead intact.

Back-to-back doubles by NWOSU leading off the fifth led to two runs in the inning and it tallied three more runs in the sixth pushing the advantage to 6-0 securing the complete-game victory for Mason.

Six members of the Softball Cats donned the blue and red for the last time as Ellington, Rios, Flores, Monigold, Threet, and Kelby Fritz closed their Hillcat careers.

Rogers State finished the 2014 season with an 18-35 record in its first season as a member of the Heartland Conference moving to NCAA Division II.