KWU Sports Information
HILLSBORO – Kansas Wesleyan softball picked up two key wins on Wednesday as the Coyotes swept the Tabor Bluejays 11-0 and 8-7 at the Hillsboro Sports Complex.
The Coyotes needs some late-inning heroics to pull out the win in the second game. The teams headed to the seventh inning tied 7-7 in a back and forth contest, when the Coyotes got the game-winner across and then held on in the bottom of the inning for the win.
In the seventh, Tiffani Alaniz (FR/Sebastian, Texas) led off reaching on an error in right field, and pinch runner Kya Butler (FR/Newton, Iowa) would score later in the inning on Destiny Hackney (SO/Thornton, Colo.)'s 2-out single to right to make it 8-7 Coyotes.
In the bottom of the inning, Wesleyan turned to ace Miranda Fogal (JR/Monticello, Ill.), who tossed a gem in the opener to close things out. Fogal would strike out the side, working around a 1-out walk for the save and preserve the Coyote sweep in the doubleheader.
The Coyotes took a 1-0 lead in the first of the second game as Mia Hernandez (SO/Hanford, Calif.) singled, and then scored on a double by Bailey Rivas (SR/La Puente, Calif.).
Tabor tied it in the bottom of the second with a homer, but the Coyotes answered right back in the top of the third. Josie Buhr (JR/Buffalo, N.D.) led off with a single and later scored on Tiffani Alaniz's sacrifice fly to make it 2-1 Coyotes.
The Bluejays took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the inning, but the Coyotes bounced back in the fifth.
Sydnee Fordham (FR/Thornton, Colo.) led off the inning with a single, followed by a single by Buhr, and another by Jocelyn Alcala (JR/Fullerton, Calif.) to load the bases with nobody out. Two batters later Tiffani Alaniz drove in two runs with a single, and Rivas followed with a sacrifice fly. Pinch runner Olleivia Lowe added a run for the Coyotes scoring on a wild pitch.
Tabor got three back in the bottom of the frame to tie things up at 6 heading to the sixth inning.
Each team added a run in the sixth, the Coyotes on Alcala's double that scored Fordham, who singled earlier in the inning, and Tabor on a run-scoring single in the bottom of the inning.
Five different Coyotes – Buhr, Alcala, Hernandez, Tiffani Alaniz, and Fordham – had two hits each for the Coyotes. Alaniz drove in three runs.
Natalie Zamora (SO/Houston, Texas) got the win in relief for the Coyotes allowing three runs on four hits, with three strikeouts in two innings. Jewell Henry (SR/Kingston, Okla.) went four innings, allowing four runs on six hits with three strikeouts. Fogal got the save in the seventh, with three strikeouts and a walk.
The opener was all Coyotes.
Wesleyan put four on the board to start the game as Alcala reached on an error and scored on Tiffani Alaniz's double. Rivas drove in a run with a single, and Viviana Alaniz (JR/Galena Park, Texas) drove in two more with a double.
Hernandez drove in a run in the second for the Coyotes with a double scoring Alcala, who had reached on an error in the inning.
In the third, the Coyotes scored four more as Viviana Alaniz singled, followed by a single by Jenna Soule (SO/Overland Park, Kan.) setting up Fordham's RBI hit. Buhr followed with a 2-run double and the fourth run of the inning scored when Hernandez reached on a double.
Rivas homered in the fourth inning and in the fifth, Hernandez doubled to score Alcala after Alcala had doubled in the inning.
Hernandez, Rivas and Viviana Alaniz had two hits each for the Coyotes in the victory.
Fogal was masterful in the circle in the opener, limiting Tabor to three hits in the five innings, with 12 strikeouts (of the 15 recorded outs), against four walks.
The Coyotes are back in action on Saturday, heading to York, Neb., to face the York Panthers. KWU returns home on Tuesday against McPherson, those games will be at Bill Burke Park in Salina, due to scheduling conflicts at Salina South.