[Softball] Softball Falcons Fall Twice to Avila in KCAC Opener
WICHITA, Kan. – The Friends University Falcons dropped a pair of games to the Avila University Eagles by scores of 3-2 and then 7-5 in the KCAC opening series for both schools today (Mar. 16) at the Two Rivers Youth Complex in Wichita.
The Falcons found themselves down from the outset of the first game, as RBI singles by Cierra McGee and Kelsei Davis helped the Eagles take a 3-0 lead after two innings.
Hali Walters (SO/Longmont, Colo.) held the Eagles in check from that point, including getting a strikeout to get out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth.
The Falcons got on the board in the third on a sacrifice fly by Kylie Fox (SR/Wichita, Kan. ) that scored Cassie Jones (SR/Erie, Colo. ) to make it a two-run deficit.
It stayed that way until the Falcons threatened in the seventh, with Isabella Gonzalez (SR/Bakersfield, Calif.) reaching on a bunt single and scoring to trim the Eagle lead to just a run on an RBI triple by Shelby Belloni (SR/Denver, Colo. ).
With the potential tying-run on third, Avila starter Kayleigh Behymer got consecutive pop outs to end the threat and finish the win.
Walters went seven innings, with two of her three runs allowed being earned along with seven strikeouts.
Behymer also pitched a complete game for Avila and gave up two runs and struck out three.
Gonzalez, Belloni and Kat Davis (FR/Keller, Texas) had two hits apiece for the Falcons in the first game, while Behymer helped her own cause with two hits for the Eagles.
The nightcap saw the Eagles jump on top with three runs in the first inning, only to have the Falcons claw back with two runs of their own in the bottom of the frame.
Davis then led off the second with a leadoff homer to push the Eagle lead back to two runs.
Now 5-2 in the sixth, Lexi Hanson hit a solo homer for Avila and the Eagles got another insurance run in the seventh on an RBI single by Makenzie Musgrove.
The Falcons made some noise in the seventh, as Renee Downey (JR/Modesto, Calif.) smacked a three-run homer to make it a two-run game.
But Makayla Akin came on and got the final out to pick up the save and close out the win for Avila.
Downey, Mackenzie Nichols (SR/Columbus, Ohio) and Kylie Fox each had a pair of hits for the Falcons (7-12, 0-2 KCAC) in the second game, with Mia Moreno going 3-of-4 with two runs scored for the Eagles (8-10, 2-0 KCAC).
Alicia Dunagan (SR/Douglass, Kan.) went the full seven innings in the circle for Friends, allowing six earned runs along with two strikeouts.
The Falcons will next be in action on Wednesday (Mar. 20) at Kansas Wesleyan University, starting at 4 pm in Salina, Kan.