It was a pretty home opener for Kansas University's softball team Saturday at Jayhawk Field, but it turned ugly pretty fast.
The Jayhawks defeated Western Michigan, 8-0, in their first game in the Holiday Inn Invitational, but yielded three early runs to Tulsa in a 4-3 defeat.
"I think 'pleased' is a good word to say about the first game," KU coach Tracy Bunge said. "A lot of people put the ball in play and we made some things happen on the bases. When we get our speed people on we can do a lot of things and I think the first game was evidence of that."
Kansas scored three runs in both the first and second innings against Western Michigan. Courtney Wright hit a two-run single in the first inning and Megan Urquhart drove in two Jayhawks in the second.
KU scored two more runs in the third inning and Kara Pierce continued to shut out the Broncos to end the game after five innings. Pierce struck out four and allowed just three hits.
"I thought Kara Pierce threw a nice ball game for us," Bunge said. "I don't think she was as sharp as I've seen her this year, but she moves the ball around and is real deceiving."
Along with the second-inning single, Urquhart also had an RBI triple in the first inning and finished 2-for-2 with four RBIs.
While the first game pleased Bunge, the second did anything but.
"I'm extremely disappointed in our effort," she said of the loss to Tulsa, which entered the game with a 4-17 record. "I don't think we played poorly or anything like that, but those are the kinds of games against the kind of people that good teams win."
The first three Tulsa batters reached base and Tulsa scored three runs in the first inning.
Kansas scored two runs in the second inning to close within one. Katie Campbell opened the inning with a home run and two batters later Shelly Musser knocked another pitch over the fence.
Tulsa scored an insurance run in the sixth inning on a single by Kari Curtis.
Kansas will face Loyola-Chicago at 11:15 a.m. today and will then play in either the consolation game at 1:30 p.m. or the championship game at 3:45 p.m.
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