ROSEMONT, Ill. -- The Western Michigan softball team used four homers to power past DePaul, 9-3, in its season opener on Friday evening in suburban Chicago. The Broncos then dropped an 8-0 decision to Kansas City to cap opening day with a split.

Game one saw WMU get homers from Sydney Stefanick, Mackenzie Swinehart, Courtney Farrish and Alyssa Kramer. Autumn Godwin picked up the victory in the circle after Stefanick started the game, allowing three runs in three innings.

Kansas City took advantage of three WMU errors to plate six unearned runs in an 8-0 Roos victory (five innings). Stefanick had a pair of hits in the effort.

| Game One - WMU 9, DePaul 3

Stefanick gave herself a 3-0 lead before she threw a pitch in the first game. Swinehart opened the season with single before Glenfield reached on an error by the DePaul first baseman, putting runners on the corners for Stefanick. She drilled one over the wall in left to make it 3-0.
 

The Broncos added on in the second when Swinehart sent one over the wall in center to make it 4-0. The Blue Demons got on the board with a single run in the third before an RBI double and wild pitch allowed the hosts to pull within a run, 4-3, after four innings.

With Godwin holding DePaul off the scoreboard in the fifth, the Broncos broke it open in the sixth. Samantha Coffel started the action with a one-out double before Farrish homered to make it 6-3. Emily Koperdak followed with a pinch-hit walk, but was then retired on a fielder's choice with Sophia Ehlers reaching first. Ehlers moved up on an error before Jordyn Swinehart walked and Kramer homered to make it 9-3.

Godwin got the win throwing two scoreless innings of relief work, while Reily Galloway tossed the final two innings with a pair of strikeouts. The pair combined to allow one Blue Demon hit over the final four innings.
 

| Game Two - UMKC 8, WMU 0 (5 innings)

One bad inning did in the Broncos in game two, as the Roos used a seven-run third inning to capture the nightcap. Kansas City had seven hits in the frame, while WMU made a pair of errors, resulting in six of the seven runs being unearned.

The Broncos struggled at the plate in game two, with Stefanick getting a pair of hits while Mackenzie Swinehart and Kaylen Glenfield each added base hits.

Galloway started for WMU, allowing just one earned run in 2.1 innings, while Rissa Bajusz made her collegiate debut in relief, allowing one earned run. Each Bronco pitcher recorded three strikeouts.

| On Deck

The Broncos will take two weeks off and return to action Feb. 27-28 for a pair of games each against Bellarmine and Morehead State in a weekend of action at Bellarmine's campus in Louisville, Kentucky.