KWU Athletics
GREAT BEND – After two days of waiting due to weather-related postponements, the Kansas Wesleyan Softball team opened play in the KCAC Softball Tournament at the Great Bend Sports Complex. The Coyotes dropped their first round game to McPherson 8-0 before bouncing back to beat Saint Mary 2-0 in the nightcap.
MCPH 8, KWU 0: McPherson scored twice in the first inning, then added three more in the fourth and fifth to claim the 8-0 win over the Coyotes in the first round game.
The Coyotes were held to four hits in the game.
Mia Hernandez (FR/Hanford, Calif.) singled in the first, Bailey Rivas (SO/West Covina, Calif.) singled in the second and doubled in the fifth, and Lauren Blue (SR/Arlington, Texas) had a bunt single in the fifth for the Coyotes.
KWU 2, USM 0: The Coyotes got all the offense they needed in the top of the third inning of the elimination game with Saint Mary, scoring twice.
Meanwhile in the circle, Carmen Angulo (SR/Long Beach, Calif.) was phenomenal for the Coyotes, holding Saint Mary to three hits while striking out nine.
Lauren Blue led off the Coyote third with a walk, then scored when Paige Anderson (JR/Lakeville, Minn.) reached on an error on a bunt and ended up at second, while Blue rounded the bases and scored thanks to a second Saint Mary error on the sequence.
Samantha Herrera (FR/Lake Jackson, Texas) followed two batters later with a RBI single to center field to score Anderson.
The play of the game came by the KWU defense in the bottom of the fifth.
The Spires had a runner at second after a leadoff double and a sacrifice bunt moved the runner to third. The next batter flew out to right and Anderson threw a strike to Destiny Hackney (FR/Thornton, Colo.) at the plate for the inning-ending double play.
Saint Mary had the tying run at the plate in the seventh, but Angulo would close out the game with a pair of strikeouts and a ground out to first.
Hernandez and Herrera each had two hits for the Coyotes. Angulo went the distance, allowing three hits and striking out nine without a walk.
KWU remains alive in the tournament and has another elimination game on Saturday, against Avila at noon at Great Bend Sports Complex.