WAVERLY – Kara Harris (Sr.-Barry, Ill.) homered and drove in five runs and Ayla Serrano (Fr.-Rock Island, Ill.) also hit a home run as Iowa Wesleyan College defeated Wartburg College 12-4 to split a doubleheader with the Knights Wednesday afternoon.
The Tigers bounced back from a 12-2 loss in the opening game to win the second game and improve to 6-12 overall this season. The Knights, an NCAA Division III member of the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, came out of the doubleheader with an 8-5 overall record this year.
IWC committed five errors in the first game as Wartburg scored at least two runs in each of the first four innings before winning in the fifth inning on account of the ten-run rule. Serrano hit her first home run of the day and had two hits, but the Tigers had just five hits and Trisha Stogdill (Sr.-Crawfordsville, Iowa) took the loss, allowing four earned runs in three innings.
The Tigers bounced back strong in the second game, scoring four runs in the second inning and adding three runs in the third. Harris hit a three-run homer in the second to give Wesleyan the lead, and Serrano followed immediately after with her second solo home run of the day to make it 4-0.
The Knights bounced back with two in the bottom of the second inning, but IWC scored three more in the third as Lauren Konop (Fr.-Plano, Ill.) was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and Harris singled in two more runs for a 7-2 lead. The Tigers added solo runs in the fifth and sixth innings and then added three more runs in the seventh as Serrano tripled in a run and Leigha Strong (Jr.-Muscatine, Iowa) doubled in the final run.
Ashley Mysliwiec (Fr.-Antioch, Ill.) survived six innings to get the win in the second game. She allowed 13 hits but stranded 12 base runners to get her second win this year.
Serrano finished with five hits, four runs scored and three RBIs over the two games, while Strong added three hits, three runs scored and two runs batted in. Konop and Molly Ward (So.-Baylis, Ill.) also both scored two runs in the second game.
The Tigers will be in Oskaloosa Saturday for the first Midwest Collegiate Conference Challenge Weekend, where conference teams will play single games against four league foes at William Penn University. Wesleyan will open against Ashford University on Saturday at 1:15 p.m.
For more information regarding the IWC softball program or any of the Tiger athletic teams, contact sports information director Adam Glatczak (319-385-6306 phone; 319-385-6384 FAX; aglatczak@iwc.edu e-mail) or log on to IWC's athletics web site at www.iwc.edu/athletics.
Box score Game 1 Wartburg 12 IWC 2 (5 inn.)
Box score Game 2 IWC 12 Wartburg 4
