Northeastern State 11 Wayne State 4

            Despite matching a season-high with 14 hits, Wayne State College suffered an 11-4 loss to Northeastern State of Oklahoma Sunday morning at the Drury Invitational Softball Tournament in Springfield, Missouri.  WSC is now 5-9 on the year while Northeastern State improves to 12-6.
            The Wildcats held a 14-13 edge in hits over the Riverhawks, but Northeastern State used three WSC errors and nine walks by Wildcat pitching to build an 11-4 advantage in runs over Wayne State.
            Northeastern State scored one run in the second, three in the third and four in the fourth to build an 8-0 lead.
            Wayne State got back into the game with four runs on five hits in the top of the fifth inning to reduce the Riverhawks' lead to 8-4.  Kim Vidlak hit an RBI single to right center field that scored Molli Vasa (double) with the first Wildcat run.  Vidlak and Kortney Buresh (single) both scored on a double from Ashley Hernandez with Hernandez later scoring on Michaela Smith's RBI single to right field.
            But Northeastern State quickly regained the momentum with three runs in the bottom of the fifth to close out the scoring for the 11-4 victory.
            Hernandez was 3 for 4 with a double and two RBI to lead Wayne State's 14-hit attack while Vidlak finished 3 for 4 with three singles and an RBI.  Buresh added two hits, going 2 for 4 with a run scored while Vasa doubled and scored a run.  Clare Reinhart, Smith, Paiton Tornberg, Kamryn Sparks and Riley Holmberg each singled.
            Freshman starter Sloan Cooksey (1-5) was tagged with the pitching loss in five innings of work while junior Maddie Moser worked the final inning.
            Wayne State will close out play at the Drury Invitational playing the host Panthers at 12 p.m.