Pride begin vital final regular season weekend with split at William Penn

OSKALOOSA, Iowa - With plenty of Heart Tournament seeding situations to be settled across the conference, the Clarke University softball team was able to keep their tournament hopes alive with a doubleheader split at William Penn University on Friday afternoon.

The Pride earned a game one win by a final score of 7-3 behind a clutch four-run top of the seventh inning when the score was tied 3-3 as an Oakleigh Harman two-run single scored Lauren Hefel and Kaylie Holtam to break the tie ahead of an Olivia Sikora two-RBI double to add on to that lead for Sikora's second RBI hit of the game as the senior outfielder finished the game 3-for-3 with three runs driven in, a walk, and a run scored.

Harman had a two-hit game along with her two RBIs and a run scored while Holtam went 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI in offensive support for starting pitcher Meredith Gatto and reliever Ellie Flanagan with Gatto going 5.1 innings allowing three earned runs on seven hits and four walks with four strikeouts as Flanagan allowed just two hits and struck out a batter to record the final five outs of the game for her eighth pitching win of the season.

Clarke's infield defense seemingly let them down in the finale with only two of the nine runs they allowed in their 9-1 run rule defeat coming as earned as a second inning error led to the inning being extended for the Statesmen to score four runs and break a 1-1 tie after Sydney Wilson singled home Sikora in the top of the second to tie the game.

Errors in the fourth and fifth innings helped allow two more runs in each inning to score, those final two to allow WPU to reach that eight-run margin to close out the game with two outs in the fifth to clinch the split.

Hefel produced two more hits in the finale after a hit in the opener with Holtam, Hannah Palzkill, and Wilson each recording hits as well with the pitching combination of Emma Slayback, Payge Pyszka, and Flanagan combined for 4.2 innings to only strikeout one Statesmen hitter.

Heading into the final day of the regular season, Clarke's 13-13 Heart record puts them in a tie for the eighth spot in the conference standings, which is the final qualification spot for the Heart Tournament, with both Baker and MidAmerica Nazarene. 

The Pride will need at least one win in their doubleheader on Saturday at Grand View University to give themselves a chance to qualify for the tournament when their doubleheader against the Vikings is slated to start at 1:00 p.m. CT in Des Moines, Iowa.