Kansas Wesleyan Softball dropped two games in the KCAC Tournament on Wednesday at Salina South High School. The Coyotes fell to Ottawa 7-3 in the first game, and then dropped an 8-6 heartbreaker in nine innings to Tabor.
The losses end KWU's tournament run and season. KWU finishes with a 22-21 overall record.
Ottawa 7, KWU 3
The third-seeded Braves broke a 1-1 tie with four runs in the fourth inning and added two more in the fifth in their quarterfinal game.
KWU took a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Brooklyn Lange led off with a single and scored one out later on Kendell Wilcox's run-scoring ground out. The Coyotes had opportunities to increase their lead but stranded five runners in the first four innings.
Ottawa tied the game 1-1 in the third inning and took the lead in the fourth on Abby Bellamy's solo home run and Braxton Stainbrook's three-run shot. The Braves made it 7-1 with two runs in the fifth - the first on Bellamy's second solo homer of the game.
Wesleyan scored twice in the seventh. Deja Rubio led off with a single and Lange followed with another single. One out later, Rubio scored on Wilcox's double and Keira Hammen singled in Lange.
The Coyotes finished with 10 hits - Lange, Wilcox, Hammen and Brooklyn Smith had two apiece. Lange scored twice and Wilcox had two RBI.
Bella Allen took the loss in relief of starter Alli Mickelsen, who pitched the first three innings. Addie Herrera pitched the final 1 1/3 innings.
Tabor 8, KWU 6 (9 Innings)
The Coyotes faced No. 7 seed Tabor in an elimination game and fell to the Bluejays 8-6 in an extra-inning heartbreaker.
The Coyotes took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Elli Han singled and then scored on Keira Hammen's single.
Tabor tied it in the bottom half of the inning.
The score stayed tied until the fifth when the Coyotes grabbed the lead. Cadence Mallet reached on an error and then Brooklyn Lange followed with a 2-run homer to put the Coyotes up 3-1.
Tabor answered back in the bottom half of the inning with its own 2-run homer to make it 3-3.
In the sixth the Coyotes again took the lead. Madison Geer led off the inning with a triple and then scored on a squeeze bunt by Deja Rubio. Han drove in a run later in the inning with a sacrifice fly and another run scored on a fielder's choice by Wilcox that allowed Lange to score on an error.
Tabor again tied it in the sixth and the game would go into extras.
The Coyotes put runners on in both the eighth and ninth but could not push a run across.
Tabor would end it with a 2-run homer in the bottom of the ninth.
Lange had four hits for the Coyotes and drove in two runs. Han had three hits and MacKenzie Vela had two.