WICHITA – Kansas Wesleyan softball splits a pair of games in the Friends University Tournament on Saturday at Two Rivers Youth Complex. The Coyotes fell to Peru State 3-2, and beat Mount Marty in a wild 9-6 game to cap the evening.
Against Peru State, the Coyotes got on the board first in the second. Bailey Rivas (FR/West Covina, Calif.) reached on an error to open the inning, then scored on a single by Brianna McGinnis (JR/Tucson, Ariz.).
After the Bobcats scored a run in the third, the Coyotes got back on the board in the fifth. Lauren Blue (SR/Arlington, Texas) accounted for the offense, with a homer to left to start the inning. Wesleyan had another chance to add more runs, loading the bases, but could not slide another run across.
Peru State scored twice in the top of the sixth, both runs unearned thanks to a couple KWU errors in the inning.
The Coyotes stranded a pair in the sixth, and again in the seventh. Wesleyan tried to rally in the seventh with two outs, as Elizabeth Willison (FR/Moore, Okla.) singled and Carmen Angulo (JR/Long Beach, Calif.) singled, but the Coyotes could not find the hit they needed to take the win.
McGinnis had three hits for the Coyotes in the game, while Blue and Vegely added two each. Angulo suffered the loss, allowing three unearned runs on nine hits with four strikeouts.
The second game was wild, with the Coyotes taking the lead with a 7-run third inning, then holding off a late charge from Mount Marty for the 9-6 win.
Wesleyan was on the board first in the bottom of the second. Sydney Brown (JR/Tucson, Ariz.) walked, and later scored on a wild pitch to give the Coyotes a 1-0 lead.
Mount Marty scored twice in the top of the third to take a brief lead, but then the Coyote bats got going, with a little help from three Lancer errors to plate seven runs in the frame.
Blue led off with a single, Vegely reached on an error. Turner then doubled to drive in the first run. Another error by the Lancers allowed Brown to reach and Willison followed with a 3-run homer. McGinnis then singled and stole a base, Katlyn Acosta (SO/Simi Valley, Calif.) walked, Miranda Guerrero (SO/Oxnard, Calif.) walked, Blue followed with a 2-run double and Vegely reached on an error for a second time allowing a run to score.
Mount Marty took advantage of a couple KWU errors in the fifth to score four runs and make things interesting at 8-6.
The Coyotes got a big insurance run in the bottom of the sixth. Blue reached on an error, and then scored on Vegely's single. Another error allowed Rivas to reach and gave the Coyotes a pair of runners aboard and KWU loaded the bases on McGinnis' walk, but could not get another run across.
Angulo got the win for the Coyotes, allowing six runs, four earned, on 10 hits with nine strikeouts. Blue had two of KWU's seven hits and Willison drove in three runs.
KWU is back in action on Tuesday, hosting No. 20 ranked Morningside in a familiar place, Salina's Bill Burke Park, as the new turf fields at Salina South High School are not ready for play yet. First pitch scheduled for 3 p.m.