KWU Sports Information
YORK, Neb. – Kansas Wesleyan Softball used some clutch performances down the stretch to complete a doubleheader sweep of the York University Panthers on Saturday at the York Ball Park Complex.
The Coyotes won the second game 4-3 in extra innings after winning the first 10-3.
Fast forward to the second game. York plated two runs in the bottom of the second inning, but the Coyotes would come back and score two runs in the top of the fourth to tie things up.
Jocelyn Alcala (JR/Fullerton, Calif.) led off the inning with a walk then scored on a double by Mia Hernandez (SO/Hanford, Calif.). Later in the inning, Bailey Rivas (SR/La Puente, Calif.) would single bringing home pinch runner Kyndyll Garrison (JR/Fresno, Calif.) to tie things up at 2-2 after four innings.
The Coyotes put a potential go-ahead run on third in the sixth inning, but could not push the run across.
Wesleyan avoided danger in the bottom of the seventh as Miranda Fogal (JR/Monticello, Ill.) would work around a pair of York hits to get the Panthers to strand the game-winning run at second base, forcing extras.
With the tiebreaker rule in effect, Alcala was placed on second to start the eighth for the Coyotes and scored on Rivas' single to right. Sarah Sanders (JR/Hillsboro, Texas) drove in what turned out to be the game-winning run, scoring pinch-runner Viviana Alaniz (JR/Galena Park, Texas) with a single.
York made things interesting in the bottom of the eighth, executing a double steal to get a run home and keep the game-winning run at second base, but Fogal would close the door, striking out the side to end it in favor of the Coyotes.
Rivas was the lone Coyote with multiple hits in the game, and also drove in two runs. Fogal was outstanding in relief in the second game, allowing an unearned run on two hits, striking out 10 and walking just one. Starter Jewell Henry (SR/Kingston, Okla.) went four innings-plus, allowing two runs on six hits with three strikeouts.
The first game saw the Coyotes take control down the stretch, pulling away for a 10-3 win.
York took a 2-0 lead in the first inning, and it took until the third for the Coyotes to get on the board.
Jenna Soule (SO/Overland Park, Kan.) led off the inning with a hit, and went to third on Josie Buhr (JR/Buffalo, N.D.)'s double. After a walk to Alcala, Hernandez drove in a run with a sacrifice fly making it 2-1.
York got a run back in the bottom of the inning, but the Coyotes got the bats going in the fourth as Samantha Herrera (SO/Lake Jackson, Texas) homered to lead off the frame. The Coyotes got out of danger in the fourth with a strikeout-throw out double play to end the inning.
Buhr was hit by a pitch to open the fifth, and after Alcala's double, scored on a Hernandez ground out. A pair of errors by York, on a ball by Rivas and on a ball by Sarah Sanders allowed the Coyotes to plate two more runs in the inning.
The Coyotes plated four more in the sixth. Soule led off with a home, and Emma Schumacher (SO/Winfield, Kan.) followed with a homer of her own. Buhr, Alcala and Hernandez singled to load the bases and Tiffani Alaniz (FR/Sebastian, Texas) brought in a run with a single. Rivas brought in the fourth run of the frame with a sacrifice fly.
The Coyotes added one more run in the seventh on Buhr's RBI single to score Soule.
Buhr and Soule had three hits each to lead the Coyoptes, while Alcala and Herrera had two.
Fogal picked up the win in relief, pitching four innings, allowing only two hits with six strikeouts. Starter Natalie Zamora (SO/Houston, Texas) went three innings, allowing three runs on four hits with three strikeouts.
Wesleyan is back in action on Tuesday, hosting McPherson at 1 p.m. at Bill Burke Park. The games will be played on the new turf at Burke Park due to a scheduling conflict at the Salina South fields.