STERLING – Kansas Wesleyan Softball split with the Sterling College Warriors in the Kansas Conference opener for both teams at the Sterling High School softball field on Tuesday.
 
Wesleyan won the first game 4-0 but lost the second 11-10 in nine innings.
 
In the opener, the Coyotes took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second as Jocelyn Alcala led off with a single, and after another hit by Anne Thibert and Cristabelle Alvarado was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Krista Yackeyonny drove in the run with a fielder's choice.
 
The Coyotes didn't score again until the sixth when Hailey Summers led off with a single and later scored on a double steal play to make it 2-0.
 
Wesleyan added two insurance runs in the top of the seventh, as Eliza Flores led off with a hit, Sydnee Fordham followed with another hit and Trenity Miller drove in the first run with a single. Later in the inning Fordham scored on a wild pitch.
 
Miller had two of KWU's eight hits in the game. Fogal went the distance, striking out nine while allowing four hits.
 
Wesleyan jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning of the second game as Flores led off with a walk and then scored on Fordham's double. Miller followed with a 2-run homer.
 
Sterling got a run back in the bottom of the first to make it 3-1.
 
Wesleyan added a run in the top of the fourth inning when Viviana Alaniz reached on an error that allowed pinch runner Becca Kennon to score.
 
The Coyotes added another in the fifth when Flores led off with a single and then scored when Summers reached on a single plus error.
 
Two more came across for the Coyotes in the sixth. Grace Pierce led off with a walk then scored when Alaniz singled and advanced on an error. Pinch hitter Ollievia Lowe drove in the second run with a sacrifice fly.
 
Summers drove in the next Coyote run with a single after Fordham led off the seventh with a double.
 
The Coyotes were poised for victory in the bottom of the seventh, but Sterling's offense came alive, scoring seven times, five of the runs coming on a pair of homers, to tie the game up at 8-all and force extra innings.
 
Thibert drove in KWU's run in the top of the eighth with a double, but the Coyotes couldn't add on another run.
 
Sterling sacrificed the tiebreaker runner over to third and then the game-tying run scored on a wild pitch, forcing the ninth.
 
This time the Coyotes sacrificed the tiebreaker runner Flores over to third, and Miller followed with a single down the third base line that stayed fair and Summers drove in the run with a sacrifice fly giving the Coyotes the lead.
 
In the ninth for Sterling, an error on the first play allowed the tying run to score, and after a sacrifice, a single plus error allowed the walk-off run to score giving the Warriors the win.
 
Fordham had three hits, while Miller and Summers had two each for the Coyotes.
 
Jewell Henry went six innings allowing a run on four hits. Halley Asbury allowed seven runs in two-thirds of an inning on five hits, Caitlyn Collier allowed one run in a third of an inning, and Fogal suffered the loss in an inning and a third.
 
The Coyotes are back in action this weekend in conference play, heading to Oklahoma Wesleyan for a 1 p.m. doubleheader in Bartlesville.