Kansas Wesleyan's Mia Hernandez (FR/Hanford, Calif.) had a good feeling about where the ball was going to land the second it left her bat.
She and her teammates watched in excited awe as it arced high and deep over the left field fence at the Salina South High School field.
"It felt so good off my bat that I knew instantly that it was a great hit," she said.
Did she immediately know it was a home run, though?
"I'm not going to lie … I did," Hernandez said with a wide grin.
Hernandez's dramatic two-out, two-strike, two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning propelled the Coyotes to a 4-2 Kansas Conference walk-off victory over arch rival Bethany in the second game of their doubleheader Saturday afternoon.
It also gave KWU (4-2 KCAC, 10-13 overall) a sweep after a 3-2 come-from-behind victory in the first game.
Hernandez, the team's designated player, was 1-for-2 with a walk against Bethany pitcher Ravin Moore before her final at-bat.
Tied 2-2 after seven innings the Coyotes opened the eighth with Paige Anderson (JR/Lakeville, Minn.) at second base according to extra inning rules. Jocelyn Alcala (SO/Fullerton, Calif.)'s sacrifice bunt moved Anderson to third but Moore struck out Anahi Agredano (SO/Anaheim, Calif.) for the second out, setting the stage for Hernandez.
"I was like 'come on kid you're a freshman, you need to prove yourself right here right now,'" Hernandez said. "I was extremely nervous when (the umpire) called the first strike and I didn't swing. I was like 'this is your pitch, swing the bat, swing the bat.'"
Hernandez, who had two of KWU's five hits, said the pitch was inside and thought it was a screwball from Moore: "She had been throwing me screwballs all day and I did not make my adjustment until that last at-bat – I kept my hands inside the ball."
"That last at-bat I just looked at her and nodded my head because I knew she was going to take care of business," KWU interim coach Brian Guyett said. "She's one of our most consistent hitters and is a joy to have around. A lot of confidence at the plate, I knew we were going to win right then and there."
KWU took a 2-0 lead in the second inning when Hernandez singled, Bailey Rivas (SO/West Covina, Calif.) followed with a triple and scored on a Bethany error.
The Swedes (0-4 KCAC, 7-16) tied it with single runs in the sixth and seventh innings but couldn't score in the top of the eighth against Carmen Angulo (SR/Long Beach, Calif.), the third KWU pitcher of the game. Natalie Zamora (FR/Houston, Texas) started and was relieved by Jewell Henry (SO/Kingston, Okla.) with two outs in the fifth. Angulo, the winning pitcher in the first game, came on with two outs in the sixth.
"Our pitchers hit their spots and did what they're supposed to do," Guyett said. "I expect that out of them, I hold them to a very high standard and very rarely do they ever disappoint."
Hernandez's single in the first inning of the opener drove in Alcala and tied the game 1-1. Bethany took a 2-1 lead with a run in the third but the Coyotes rallied in the fifth.
Angulo led off with a single and went to second on Vivan Millan's sacrifice ground out. Paige Anderson walked, pinch hitter Destiny Hackney (FR/Thornton, Colo.) singled and Angulo scored on Agredano's sacrifice fly that tied it 2-2. Hernandez's single drove in Anderson with the final run.
Angulo retired six of the last seven batters she faced to get the complete-game victory. She allowed two runs (one earned) on three hits with five strikeouts and one walk.
Hernandez had two of KWU's six hits and the two RBI.
"We took care of business today, it was a team effort, everybody played a role," Guyett said. "We continued to stay up when things were tough and at the end of the day, we took care of it."
The Coyotes travel to McPherson for a KCAC doubleheader Tuesday before playing York in a conference doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. next Saturday at South High.