Davenport--The William Penn concluded its last day of inside competition on a down note as it fell twice at the St. Ambrose Dome Tournament Sunday.
WPU (7-7) lost 3-0 to Saint Xavier (Ill.) and closed the weekend with a 7-2 defeat to host St. Ambrose.
Despite matching the Cougars with five hits, the Statesmen failed to plate a runner. It spoiled a strong outing by Emily Bryant (Sr., University Place, Wash., Nursing), who worked all six innings and only allowed the three runs on five hits. The senior struck out three batters and walked one.
The game was scoreless through five frames, but SXU broke through with all three tallies in the sixth and then held on in the seventh. WPU had baserunners in six of the seven innings, but was unable to take advantage of three Saint Xavier errors.
Chelsey Huff (Jr., Douds, Iowa, Exercise Science) managed two base knocks in the setback.
"This was a similar story to other games we have had against ranked teams," Head Coach Laura North said. "We were knocking on the door, but just could not get it going offensively. Emily Bryant pitched a great game. We have to give our pitchers some more runs on the board."
Three big innings were too much to overcome against the host Queen Bees in a game where the navy and gold were outhit 9-6 and committed two fielding miscues.
After two frames without any runs, SAU snapped the scoreless contest with two tallies in the third. The home squad then tacked on two additional scores in the fourth and three more in the fifth before WPU eventually made a small rally in the latter frames.
Huff left the park in the top of the sixth with a solo home run (her first of the season), while a bunt single by Zoey Jones (Sr., Ottumwa, Iowa, Elementary Education) brought in Allyson Stewart (Sr., Delta, B.C., Nursing) in the seventh. It was not enough to truly threaten St. Ambrose, however, as the Statesmen wrap up dome play for the 2024 campaign.
Huff again paced the offense with one hit and one walk. She unfortunately had a difficult outing in the pitching circle and was saddled with the loss. Karah Dunham (Jr., Weston, Mo., Human Services and Psychology) entered in the fifth inning and threw a pair of effective innings, giving up just one hit in two scoreless frames.
"St. Ambrose simply beat us," North said. "They executed and we did not. We also gave them too many chances. Karah Dunham came on in relief and did some good work after being in the bullpen all weekend. This was just a tough day overall."
Next Up: William Penn takes a few weeks off before traveling to Tucson, Ariz. for its annual spring break trip from March 10-15. During the week, the Statesmen will play 10 games.
