Pride salvage road split at William Penn with game two victory

OSKALOOSA, Iowa - Starting a stretch of six-straight doubleheader days for the Clarke University softball team, a makeup doubleheader against William Penn University in Oskaloosa, Iowa on Wednesday afternoon saw the Heart of America Athletic Conference rivals split both games.

Game one was the Statesmen come out and limit the CU offense to just three hits and three walks while only scoring runs in a single inning themselves with a three-run bottom of the third producing three runs on four hits, scoring on back-to-back-to-back at bats starting with a sacrifice fly then a double and a single to go up 3-0, the score they would eventually win by.

Those three runs were plenty of support for WPU starter Chelsey Huff who struck out 12 members of the Pride in her seven-inning performance while Clarke starter Meredith Gatto struck out five batters while allowing the three earned runs on eight hits and four walks in the opener.

The Pride wasted little time in game two jump starting the offense as they scored a pair of runs on singles, first from freshman Lauren Hefel as she singled up the middle then Kennedi LeDuff would drive in Hefel on a single to center for CU to lead 2-0 after the top of the first.

William Penn answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the first on a solo home run but Clarke game two starter Payge Pyszka would limit the Statesmen to just that lone run over 6.2 innings as she allowed 10 hits and three walks with two strikeouts but kept WPU off the board outside of the home run for Gatto to come in and close the door in the seventh for her second save of the season.

CU would add on a run in the top of the fifth when Hannah Palzkill launched her team-leading third home run of the season with a solo shot to left center as she finished with a two-hit game and Hefel went 3-for-3, as the offense was led by a strong performance at the top of the order as six of the seven team hits came from the top three in the order with LeDuff producing that final hit on her RBI single.

Clarke softball will now continue that six-day stretch with four-straight days of home doubleheaders, first venturing back into non-conference action on Thursday when Judson University visits Veterans Memorial Park for a 3:00 p.m. CT first pitch to start the day between the Pride and Eagles.