STERLING – Kansas Wesleyan dropped both ends of a doubleheader with the Sterling Warriors on Wednesday at the Sterling High School softball field. Sterling won the first game on a walk-off 5-4, and the second game 6-3.
KWU finishes the regular season at 21-20 overall and 15-9 in the KCAC, earning the No. 5 seed in next week's KCAC Tournament in Great Bend. KWU will face McPherson, the No. 4 seed in the first round, at 5 p.m. next Wednesday.
Sterling finishes its season at 15-31 overall, 8-16 in the KCAC.
In the opener, Sterling took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first, but the Coyotes answered back in the top of the second.
Brianna McGinnis (SR/Tucson, Ariz.) reached on an error and Emma Schumacher (FR/Winfield, Kan.) walked. Two batters later, Bailey Rivas (SO/West Covina, Calif.) hit a bloop single down the line in right that allowed both runners to score to tie things up.
Rivas led off the fifth reaching on a walk for the Coyotes, then scored when Paige Anderson (JR/Lakeville, Minn.) reached on an error giving KWU a 3-2 lead.
Elizabeth Willison (SO/Moore, Okla.) singled home Schumacher in the top of the sixth to give the Coyotes a 4-2 lead.
Sterling got a run back in the bottom of the sixth and won the game on a walk-off 2-run double to center in the bottom of the seventh.
KWU was held to two hits in the game, by Willison and Rivas. Carmen Angulo (SR/Long Beach, Calif.) took the loss, allowing five runs on seven hits, while striking out 10 in the game.
Neither team scored until the third inning of the second game.
Destiny Hackney (FR/Thornton, Colo.) led off the frame with a double and scored when Lauren Blue (SR/Arlington, Texas) reached on an error. Two batters later Jocelyn Alcala (SO/Fullerton, Calif.) reached on an error that allowed Blue to score giving KWU a 2-0 lead.
Sterling scored four times in the bottom of the inning to take a 4-2 lead.
Angulo led off the fifth with a single, then scored on Blue's double to get the Coyotes back within a run at 4-3. Sterling would get two runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 6-3 lead.
Four different Coyotes had a hit in the game. Jewell Henry (SO/Kingston, Okla.) would get the loss going three and a third innings allowing four runs, two earned, on five hits. Angulo pitched two and two-thirds allowing two runs.