NEVADA, Mo. – Kansas Wesleyan softball dropped a pair of one-run road contests to Cottey College, who is receiving votes in the NAIA Top 25 poll on Tuesday. Cottey won the opener 2-1, and the second 5-4.

All three runs in the first game came in the fifth inning. The Coyotes got on the board first as Sydnee Fordham (FR/Thornton, Colo.) singled and then scored on Sarah Sanders (JR/Hillsboro, Texas)’ single in the inning.

Cottey took advantage of a KWU error in the bottom of the fifth to score two runs and take the lead.

Mia Hernandez (SO/Hanford, Calif.) had a pair of hits in the opener leading the way for the Coyotes. Natalie Zamora (SO/Houston, Texas) went four and two-thirds allowing two runs, one earned, on six hits. Miranda Fogal (JR/Monticello, Ill.) went the rest of the way not allowing a hit.

In the second game, the Coyotes nearly rallied from a 5-2 deficit in the top of the seventh, but came up just short in the 5-4 decision.

Fast forward to the seventh as the Coyotes trailed 5-2 at that point. Josie Buhr (JR/Buffalo, N.D.) reached on an error, and then scored on Hernandez’s 2-run homer two batters later. Sanders followed with a 2-out double, putting the potential go-ahead run at the plate, but the Coyotes could not complete the rally.

Emma Schumacher (SO/Winfield, Kan.) got the Coyotes on the board in the second with a RBI double to score Jenna Soule (SO/Overland Park, Kan.) after Soule reached on an error.

Cottey tied it in the bottom of the frame with a homerun, one of five hit in the game by the Comets.

Hernandez drove in KWU’s go-ahead run in the third with a single to left that scored Kya Butler (FR/Newton, Iowa) who walked earlier in the inning.

Cottey tied it with another homer in the bottom of the inning, and took the lead with a pair of homers in the bottom of the fourth. Cottey’s fifth homer of the day in the sixth inning gave the Comets a 5-2 lead heading into the seventh.

Hernandez added two more hits in the game and drove in three runs. Jewell Henry (SR/Kingston, Okla.) allowed four runs on four hits while striking out four for the Coyotes. Fogal worked two innings in the game allowing three hits and had three strikeouts. Danika Utajara (JR/Lovington, N.M.) pitched one inning, allowing a run on two hits with a strikeout.

The Coyotes are back at home this weekend, hosting Dakota Wesleyan on Friday at 2 p.m. at Salina South High School, then a three game series with No. 11 ranked Grand View on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday’s doubleheader starts at 1 p.m., and Sunday’s single game at Noon.