Illinois Springfield 6 Wayne State 5

            Wayne State College hit three home runs, but suffered a 6-5 loss to Illinois Springfield Friday afternoon in the Wildcats' opening game at the Emporia State Softball Tournament in Emporia, Kansas.  The 'Cats drop to 1-6 on the year while UIS improves to 3-8.
            The Wildcats jumped out of the gate with a three-run first inning.  Kortney Buresh led off the game with a triple and scored on a Kim Vidlak single.  The next at bat saw senior third baseman Ashley Hernandez belt a home run giving WSC a quick 3-0 lead.
            The Prairie Stars responded with two runs in the first, tied the game in the second with another run and took a 4-3 lead with a solo run in the third.
            Illinois Springfield extended the lead to 6-3 in the bottom of the fourth with two more runs.
            Wayne State got the two runs back in the top of the sixth inning thanks to solo homers by Hernandez and Kamryn Sparks to open the frame.
            The 'Cats later loaded the bases in the sixth inning as Madison Gomez walked, Jenna Etmans singled followed by a pinch hit single from Paiton Tornberg to load the bases with two outs.  But WSC could not get the go-ahead hit to close the inning and the 'Cats left the bases loaded.
            Illinois Springfield finished the game with one more hit than the Wildcats, 10-9.  Hernandez was 2 for 4 with a pair of home runs and three RBI.  Buresh ended 2 for 4 with a triple and run scored while Sparks added a solo homer.  Other Wildcat hitters included Vidlak, Etmans, Riley Holmberg and Tornberg each singling.
            Hadley Chvatal (1-4) suffered the loss with three innings of work.  Starter Maddie Moser pitched one inning with sophomore reliever Sloan Cooksey added two innings of scoreless relief with three strikeouts.
            Wayne State was slated to play Fort Hays State Friday evening in another game at the Emporia State Tournament.