Kansas Wesleyan Softball is the No. 6 seed in the 2023 KCAC Tournament that starts on Wednesday and runs through Friday at the Great Bend Sports Complex in Great Bend.

The Coyotes will face No. 3 seed Oklahoma Wesleyan in the first round of the tournament at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

KWU enters the tournament with an 18-23 overall record and finished KCAC play with a 13-11 record in coach Ryan Cooper‘s first season leading the team.

In the regular season meetings between KWU and OKWU, the Eagles picked up two wins, 8-6 and 3-1 in the doubleheader in Bartlesville on March 18.

On the season for the Coyotes Josie Buhr (JR/Buffalo, N.D.) leads the Coyotes with a .384 batting average, while Tiffani Alaniz (FR/Sebastian, Texas) bats .374 and Mia Hernandez (SO/Hanford, Calif.) bats .352 on the season. Buhr’s 48 hits leads the team from the leadoff position in the lineup. Jocelyn Alcala (JR/Fullerton, Calif.) leads the team with 14 doubles. Hernandez’s nine homers leads the team on offense.

Miranda Fogal (JR/Monticello, Ill.) leads the Coyote pitching staff with a KCAC-best 1.79 ERA heading into the KCAC tournament. She has an 11-8 record overall in 113.2 innings pitched. She had 160 strikeouts, which ranked third best in the KCAC. She also has three saves.

Jewell Henry (SR/Kingston, Okla.) has thrown 83 innings in 20 appearances and 19 starts in the circle with a 4.64 ERA.

A victory in Wednesday’s first game will send the Coyotes into the winner’s bracket, where they would face the winner between No. 2 seed Friends and No. 7 seed McPherson, that game at 5 p.m. on Wednesday. A loss drops the Coyotes into the loser’s bracket, where they would face the loser between Friends and McPherson at 7:30 on Wednesday.