It’s back to the softball diamond for the KCII Area Game of the Week tonight, as WACO seeks its first win of the season welcoming Winfield-Mt. Union to town.

When the calendar year began, it was still unclear whether or not the Warriors would field their own team, as an eight year co-op with Columbus came to an end. In WACO’s first solo softball season since 2016, they find themselves 0-2 with losses to Wapello and Columbus. Tuesday night’s game with the Wildcats ended 15-3, but saw Natalie Wagler go 2-2 with an RBI while Drew Graber added a hit and an RBI as well. WACO is batting .320 as a team, with early success from Shanae Riley, Madelyn Farmer, and Carlee Lunsford. Pitching duties for the Warriors have fallen to senior Rhiannon Horn and freshman Mei Leichty.

Winfield-Mt. Union softball got into the win column Tuesday night, leaving Pekin in the dust 16-0 in three innings. A ten-run first and six-run second ended things early as the Wolves outhit the Panthers 6-1. Quin Smith and Makiah Lower each knocked in four runs. Smith also scored three times, as did Josie Nelson. Eight Wolves crossed the plate in the victory, which provided plenty of support for Lower in the circle. The senior struck out six of the game’s nine outs, needing just 46 pitches in the outing. It was a nice bounce back for WMU after losing the opener to Hillcrest Academy 18-9 a week ago. Through the early goings, the Wolves are batting .350 as a team with 25 runs and 14 total hits. Lower, the team’s primary pitcher so far, has allowed six hits and four earned runs in seven innings.

The two last met as WMU and WACO in 2016, with the Wolves winning 12-6. Before that, WACO had won 10 of 12. You can listen to these Superconference foes square off in the KCII Area Game of the Week, found on the KCII3 Stream at KCIIradio.com. The Roder Epoxy Pregame Show kicks things off at 5 p.m. tonight, followed by first pitch between the Warriors and Wolves at 5:30 from Wayland.