CLAREMORE, Okla. – The Rogers State softball team picked up a doubleheader split with Texas-Permian Basin Saturday at the Diamond Sports Complex rallying for a 4-3 win in game one before coming up short in the second game, falling 11-7.
 
Ashleigh Stidman and Jamie Kowalick combined for 10 of the Hillcats' 24 hits in the twin bill going 2-for-4 in the opener before 3-for-4 performances at the plate in the finale.
 
GAME ONE
The Hillcats came storming back in the opener scoring three runs in the bottom of the seventh to overcome a two-run deficit and pull off a 4-3 victory behind Taylor Santistevan's walk-off single.
 
Arika Araujo and Stephanie Schivally drew bases-loaded walks in the frame to tie the game leading to the two-out flare from Santistevan that hit the glove of two UTPB fielders and bounced on the ground plating pinch runner Ashley Williams for the winning run.
 
RSU jumped out quickly on the Falcons posting three-straight singles in the bottom of the first as Stidman, Katelyn Gamble, and Morgen Blanchard loaded the bases. Kowalick provided the only run-scoring hit of the inning pulling a two-out single through the infield giving the Hillcats a 1-0 edge.
 
UTPB finally broke through on RSU starter Rachel Jones in the fourth tying the score, 1-1, getting a two-out RBI single capitalizing on a lead-off hit. The Falcons added a run in the fifth to take a lead and pushed the margin to 3-1 in the sixth.
 
Trailing by two in the final frame, the Hillcats got singles from Stidman and Gamble to open the inning. The pair moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt and Katlin Alexander walked to put runners on every base leading to the eventual winning single by the freshman Santistevan.
 
Jessica Christian got the victory for RSU in the circle throwing the final 1.2 innings holding UTPB to just one hit.
 
GAME TWO
After the Falcons struck for four runs in the first, the Hillcats rallied back posting five runs over the next two innings, but could not stop UTPB late dropping the night cap, 11-7, in a game lasting nearly three hours.
 
UTPB's JJ Von Oesen and Daisy Aguilar hit back-to-back home runs in a four-run inning before the RSU offense got going in the bottom half of the frame. Stidman opened on a sharp single between the legs of Falcons' starter Kim Alonzo and later scored on an error. Kowalick added an RBI double to cut the deficit in half, down 4-2.
 
Santistevan began the second with a single and Randye Sharp reached base on an error before Williams entered as a pinch runner at second base. The junior later crossed home on a wild pitch and Alexander ripped a two-run single to the wall in right giving the Hillcats a 5-4 advantage.
 
The lead was short lived as Von Oesen hit her second home run of the game, a two-run shot to straight away center during a three-run third for UTPB and the visitors added another run in the fourth stretching the margin to 8-5. The Falcons tacked on three in the seventh before RSU got two runs back in the bottom of the seventh as Taylor Sutterfield's single into left was misplayed allowing a pair of unearned runs to score making it an 11-7 decision.
 
Behind five-hit days from Stidman and Kowalick, five other players had multi-hit efforts for RSU. Blanchard had a 17-game hit streak stopped in game two after recording a pair of hits in the opener.
 
The Hillcats (11-19 overall, 1-10 HC) close the Heartland Conference series against the Falcons Sunday morning at 11 a.m. at the Diamond Sports Complex. Catch all the action live on the Hillcat Network at www.rsuhillcats.com/live.