SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The No. 5-seeded Rogers State softball team rallied twice to upset No. 4 Texas A&M International and No. 1 St. Mary's by the identical scores of 6-5 on the opening day of the Heartland Conference Championship at the Park at StMU on Thursday (May 3).
 
The Hillcats (37-18) play No. 2 Oklahoma Christian tomorrow at 10 a.m. with the winning advancing to the championship game and sitting in the best position in the double-elimination tournament.

"To come back from a 5-1 deficit against St. Mary's for us it's really a Cinderella story," head coach Andrea Vaughan said following the win over the Rattlers. "I couldn't be more proud of them. They just kept plugging away. We found a way to get on base and get hits in key moments. That's what it really came down to. I'm proud of them."
 
In the first game of the day, RSU rallied from down 3-1 with five runs in the fourth and fifth inning to get the 6-5 win over the Dustdevils.
 
After advancing to take on host and No. 1-seed St. Mary's, the navy and red made an even bigger comeback with five runs in the final two innings, including the game-winning RBI single by Allie McFetridge in the seventh, for the 6-5 upset victory over the Rattlers, the regular season Heartland Conference champion.
 
RSU 6, StMU 5
 
Trailing 5-1 going into the sixth inning, the navy and red plated five runs in the sixth and seventh innings to rally for the 6-5 upset of StMU in the second game of the day.
 
The Cats started with three runs in the sixth inning on two homers. Tailee Reding began the comeback with a solo homer to left field. Danelle Day added a massive two-run shot to center to pull RSU to within one at 5-4.
 
After a lead-off single by Katelyn Gamble in the seventh inning and a sacrifice moved the junior into scoring position, Katy Taylor posted her second important hit of the day with an RBI double down the line to tie the score at 5-5.
 
With the go-ahead run at second in Taylor, McFetridge brought the senior home with a single up the middle for the 6-5 score.
 
Senior Alex Brake registered two strikeouts and a groundout in the bottom of the seventh to secure the upset victory.
 
McFetridge finished 2-for-4 with one RBI in the game. Day was 1-for-3 with two RBI and a walk. Smith and Reding each added one hit and one RBI on solo home runs. Taylor tallied a 1-for-2 performance at the plate with one RBI.
 
Brake notched the win in the circle, going 3.0 innings in relief. She shutdown the Rattlers with four strikeouts and no hits allowed in the final three innings of the contest. Reding started the game and went the first 4.0 innings.
 
RSU 6, TAMIU 5
 
Taylor came up huge in the 6-5 win over Texas A&M International in the first game of the league championship. With the bases loaded and two outs, the senior tripled to the gap in left to plate three runs. With her speed on the bases, a rushed throw after the hit was wide of the bag at third to allow Taylor to score for a 5-3 RSU advantage.
 
The Dustdevils singled in one run to pull to within one at 5-4 in the fourth inning, but the Cats posted one run in the next inning to keep the momentum.
 
RSU added what would be the game-winning run in the fifth inning. After a lead-off walk and a sacrifice bunt put Reding in scoring position, an error by TAMIU allowed the freshman to score for the game-winning run that upped the score to 6-4.
 
The run would be the difference as the Dustdevils hit another solo home run in the fifth for the final 6-5 score.
 
The Dustdevils went up 2-0 early in the game when Lindsey Smith knocked out a two-run homer in the second inning.
 
The Cats sliced the deficit in half as Merissa Smith tallied her first home run of the day with a solo shot to straight center to cut the margin to 2-1. Smith homered to open game two against StMU in the first at-bat of the contest for her second of the tournament.  
 
TAMIU matched Smith with a solo home run by Cassie Cannon in the third that increased the lead to 3-1 before the Taylor three-RBI triple.
 
Freshman Andrea Morales earned the win in 4.2 innings of relief work in the circle. She allowed only three hits and two runs. Brake started and went the first 2.1 innings.
 
Taylor finished 1-for-3 with three RBI. Smith was 1-for-4 with one RBI.
 
The Hillcats take on No. 2 seed OC on Friday (May 4) at 10 a.m. at the Park at StMU in San Antonio, Texas. The winner advances to the championship game on Saturday at 12 p.m. Live video streaming and live stats will be available for all games at the Heartland Conference Championship.