SOFTBALL OPENS SEASON WITH A SPLIT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – In a scheduling quirk, Avila softball began its season on campus, but went in to the box score as the road team.

Due to field conditions stemming from Kansas City's winter weather at Park University – the original host team – Avila played two games at The Z as the road team on Saturday, defeating Park before losing to Columbia College.

Versus Park, Avila trailed early but the offense got started midway through the seven innings.

Trailing 2-0 entering the third, Stephanie Hayes blasted a two-run home run to get Avila on the board for the first time in 2025. Park scored two more in the bottom half of the inning. For Avila, that would be the last time the they would trail in the game.

A three-run fourth inning, thanks to a two-RBI double from Julia Douglass and an RBI double from Hayes put Avila up 5-4.

The Eagles would add five more in the fifth.

Myra Megli swatted a solo home run to left, before Abi Beaman (one) Douglass (two) and Hayes (one) notched RBI hits of their own.

Avila held a 10-4 lead through five.

The Eagles added a run in the sixth and five more in the seventh to finish the 16-5 victory. A number of stellar performances at the plate drove Avila to the win, including multi-RBI games from Beaman (two), Douglass (five), Hayes (four) and Megli (two).

As a team, Avila notched 15 hits, including three each from Douglass, Hayes and McKayla Cotton.

The second games was not as kind to the Eagles, losing 9-1 in five innings to Columbia College.

The Cougars scored early and often in games number two, scoring three in the first and four in the second.

For the Eagles, Cotton added to her strong offensive day with an RBI double in the first inning.

Weather permitting, the Eagles will play in a four-game tournament on Saturday and Sunday at Homefield in Kansas City, Kan., beginning on Saturday at 10 AM versus St. Mary of the Woods.