Pride get back to winning ways with doubleheader sweep of Peru State

DUBUQUE, Iowa - Capping off their four-day homestand with another Heart of America Athletic Conference doubleheader, the Clarke University softball team pulled out a pair of wins behind seven-run offensive performances over Peru State College on Sunday with a 7-3 win in the opener followed by a finale win of a 7-4 final score.

Game one saw CU starting pitcher Meredith Gatto get the scoring started to support her own pitching effort with an RBI single down the left field line in the bottom of the second inning to make it 1-0 but the Bobcats would answer with a solo home run to tie the game at 1-1.

Gatto went 1-for-3 at the plate and would produce a quality outing in the circle in a complete game win allowing three earned runs to strike out 11 batters for her fourth double digit strikeout performance of the season to run her season total to 134 strikeouts, just one shy of the Clarke softball record for punchouts in a season with at least six more starts to come for the sophomore from Dubuque Senior High School.

Five different members of the Pride offense produced multi-hit games led by a pair of three-hit performances from freshman Lauren Hefel and sophomore Oakleigh Harman while Kynadee Harris, Hannah Palzkill, and Jenna Ulin all had two-hit games as Palzkill, Ulin, and Harman got the lead back for CU in the third inning, driving in a run apiece as Palzkill and Ulin had RBI singles and Harman drove in a run in between those two hits on a ground out to second.

Ulin started another three-run inning with another RBI single in the bottom of the fifth with Kaylie Holtam joining the hit party with a double to center to score Ulin and later coming around to score following a Bobcat error.

Peru State was able to jump out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning of game two thanks to a couple of Pride errors but Hefel kept her hot hitting going through the break between games, crushing a two-RBI double to right center to tie the game in the bottom of the first before Palzkill also doubled on a ball to shallow right that got deflected on a diving effort to allow two more runs to score, giving Clarke a 4-2 lead after an inning.

Giving a run back in the top of the second, game two starter for CU Payge Pyszka settled in nicely to put up four-straight zeros in fairly quick fashion to finish her complete game allowing seven hits and four runs, only two earned, with one walk and three strikeouts.

Hefel went 2-for-2 in game two with a walk to reach base in all seven of her trips to the plate on Sunday, bumping her batting average to .337, trailing only Palzkill in CU's lineup, and on base percentage to a team-best .416 on the season.

Holtam and Harlee Makue-Vasconcellos combined with Hefel at the top of the Pride order to produce seven hits, four RBIs, and three runs as a trio while Kennedi LeDuff and Palzkill had two-hit games, then Harman, Ulin, and Alicia Casas all producing a hit in the finale.

Pride softball will get back on the road for their next six doubleheaders starting with a rematch against Maranatha Baptist University in Watertown, Wis. on Monday with a first pitch of game one scheduled for 3:00 p.m. CT.