OTTAWA – Kansas Wesleyan Softball saw its seven-game winning streak get snapped as the Coyotes dropped both ends of a doubleheader to Ottawa, who is receiving votes in the NAIA Top 25 and was ranked in the Top 25 last week, on Thursday at Alumni Park.
Ottawa won the opener 2-1 in nine innings, and won the second game 8-0 in six innings.
The opener was a pitcher's duel between two of the best arms in the KCAC in KWU's Carmen Angulo (SR/Long Beach, Calif.) and Ottawa's Casson Rasmussen.
Neither team scored until the ninth inning, although both had chances earlier in the game. Ottawa left a runner at third base in the bottom of the third inning as Angulo got a strikeout to end the inning.
The Coyotes had a chance in the fifth as Bailey Rivas (SO/West Covina, Calif.) led off the inning with a hit and moved to third base, but Ottawa would make a great defensive play to end the frame.
The Braves had a chance to walk-off in the bottom of the seventh, but again Angulo stepped up and got a strikeout to end the inning after Ottawa had runners at second and third.
In extras, Ottawa had a chance again in the bottom of the eighth, but could not get the run across.
Finally in the ninth, both teams broke through. Paige Anderson (JR/Lakeville, Minn.) was the tiebreaker runner at second to start the inning and went to third on a wild pitch. Two batters later Mia Hernandez (FR/Hanford, Calif.) hit a ball to short and Anderson scored on a throwing error to put the Coyotes up 1-0.
In the bottom of the inning, Ottawa moved its runner to third on a steal, and after a ground out, the Braves got runners on the corners on a fielder's choice. The Braves would get the game winning run on a squeeze bunt and error.
Both pitchers only allowed two hits in the game and all three combined runs were unearned. Angulo struck out eight for the Coyotes. Rivas and Lauren Blue (SR/Arlington, Texas) had KWU's only hits.
Ottawa got an 8-0 win in the second game in six innings.
Wesleyan had a chance to get something going in the top of the first, loading the bases thanks to a walk to Anderson, a single by Hernandez and a walk to Brianna McGinnis (SR/Tucson, Ariz.), but the Coyotes couldn't get a run across.
The game got one out into the bottom of the first, when there was a delay for lightning in the area that halted the game for approximately 35 minutes. Once resumed, Ottawa scored two runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 2-0 lead.
Wesleyan again loaded the bases in the third inning when Hernandez reached on an error, McGinnis walked and Rivas singled, but the Coyotes couldn't score.
Ottawa added a run in the bottom of the inning and three more in the fifth before ending the game in the sixth with two runs.
Wesleyan was held to four hits in the second game, two from Hernandez, who saw her streak of seven consecutive games with a homer end, but not before setting what might be a NAIA record for the feat. She also would have broken or tied records at the NCAA Division I and III levels and was one away from the Division II record.
The Coyotes have a huge series coming up on Saturday as KWU hosts Oklahoma Wesleyan at 1 p.m. at Salina South. The Eagles lead the KCAC by a game over Ottawa. The Coyotes are four games back from first place and three out of second with four games left in the regular season.