Kansas Wesleyan softball got its first conference sweep of 2021 as the Coyotes took both ends of a doubleheader with the McPherson College Bulldogs, 4-2 and 7-3, on Tuesday at Salina South High School.
McPherson scored two runs in the top of the first inning in both games, but the Coyotes would rally past for the wins.
Maile Deutsch homered in the top of the first of the opener to put McPherson on the board, but the Coyotes would bounce back. Kiana Turner (SO/Quapaw, Okla.) would hit in a fielder’s choice that would yield the first run of the game for the Coyotes as Katlyn Acosta (SO/Simi Valley, Calif.) scored from third on the play.
Bailey Rivas (FR/West Covina, Calif.) led off the KWU half of the fourth inning with a double and after Miranda Guerrero (SO/Oxnard, Calif.) reached on an error, Vivian Millan (FR/Grand Prairie, Texas) doubled to drive in a run to tie it up and Katlyn Acosta gave the Coyotes the lead 3-2 with a sacrifice fly.
Rivas homered in the bottom of the sixth to give the Coyotes a 4-2 lead.
In the second game, McPherson took a 2-0 lead on doubles by Deutsch and Brandy Trengove, but again the Coyotes came back.
Lauren Blue (SR/Arlington, Texas) got the third inning Coyote rally going with a hit, followed by a walk to Jessica Vegely (SR/Mariposa, Calif.). Turner drove in the first run with a hit to center, and Sydney Brown (JR/Tucson, Ariz.) followed with a hit to drive in the game-tying run. Rivas put the Coyotes up for good with a double scoring Turner.
The Coyotes added two more in the fourth on Turner’s line drive 2-run homer and added two more in the sixth on a monster 2-run shot by Brown.
Rivas had two hits in the opener, the only Coyote with more than one hit in the game. Brown was 3-of-4 for the Coyotes with 3 RBI in the second game and Turner went 2-of-3 with 3 RBI as well.
Carmen Angulo (JR/Long Beach, Calif.) went the distance in the circle for both games, allowing two runs on seven hits with 5 strikeouts in the opener and three runs, two earned, on nine hits with four strikeouts in the second game.
KWU heads to York on Saturday for a 1 p.m. doubleheader against the Panthers.
