[Softball] Softball is No. 7 seed, faces McPherson in KCAC Tournament opener Thursday
Kansas Wesleyan is the No. 7 seed in the KCAC Softball Tournament and will face conference co-champion and tournament No. 2 seed McPherson on Thursday at 3 p.m. at the Great Bend Sports Complex in Great Bend.
The tournament was originally slated to begin on Wednesday, but with rain in the forecast conference officials have pushed the start of the tournament back one day.
All KCAC Tournament games will be streamed on the KCAC Digital Network at portal.stretchinternet.com/kcac and will also be available on the Coyote Sports Network at portal.stretchinternet.com/kwu. Live Stats will be available on DakStats at www.dakstats.com/naia.
McPherson won the two regular season meetings between the teams on April 25, 4-1 and 6-5 in extra innings. The games were originally scheduled for March 30, but were postponed due to inclement weather.
Kirsten Redfern (FR/Keller, Texas) leads the Coyotes with a .471 batting average in 24 games, but has been recently sidelined with an injury, but is slated to return for the conference tournament. Taylor LaGrange (SR/Mont Belvieu, Texas) is hitting .405 for the Coyotes and has a team-best three triples. Anna Grace Williams (FR/Crandall, Texas) is Wesleyan's hits leader with 51 and has a team best 17 doubles to go with a .331 average.
Tara Stubits (SO/Topeka, Kan.) has thrown 175 innings in the circle for the Coyotes with a 10-14 record and a 3.88 ERA and a 1.78 WHIP. The sophomore has 115 strikeouts on the season.
McPherson enters the conference tournament 31-14 and is led by Jessica Jones with a conference-best .475 batting average with 75 hits. Jenna Christensen has a team-best 17 doubles and nine homers. Christie Betker leads the way in the circle for the Bulldogs with a 15-8 record in 154 and two-thirds innings pitched with a 1.31 ERA and 186 strikeouts. Brittany Baroni has thrown 91 innings with a 2.00 ERA and a 13-2 record.
The winner between Wesleyan and McPherson will face the winner of Friends and Bethany on Friday at 11 a.m. The loser will play the loser between Friends and Bethany at 1 p.m. on Friday.
2019 KCAC SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT
Game 1 – (1) Avila vs (8) York – 3 p.m., Thursday
Game 2 – (2) McPherson vs (7) Kansas Wesleyan – 3 p.m., Thursday
Game 3 – (4) Ottawa vs (5) Tabor – 5 p.m., Thursday
Game 4 – (3) Friends vs (6) Bethany – 5 p.m., Thursday
Game 5 – Loser Game 2 vs Loser Game 4 – 1 p.m., Friday
Game 6 – Loser Game 1 vs Loser Game 3 – 1 p.m., Friday
Game 7 – Winner Game 1 vs Winner Game 3 – 11 a.m., Friday
Game 8 – Winner Game 4 vs Winner Game 2 – 11 a.m., Friday
Game 9 – Loser Game 7 vs Winner Game 5 – 3 p.m., Friday
Game 10 – Loser Game 8 vs Winner Game 6 – 3 p.m., Friday
Game 11 – Winner Game 7 vs Winner Game 8 – 5 p.m., Friday
Game 12 – Winner Game 9 vs Winner Game 10 – 5 p.m., Friday
Game 13 – Winner Game 12 vs Loser Game 11 – 1 p.m., Saturday
Game 14 – Winner Game 11 vs Winner Game 13 – 3 p.m., Saturday
Game 15 (If Necessary) – Winner Game 14 vs Loser Game 14 – 5 p.m., Saturday