Senior Night Ends in Split with Pride

Oskaloosa--On a night for celebrating its eldest players as well as its coach, the William Penn softball team split a Heart of America Athletic Conference doubleheader with Clarke Friday.

The Statesmen (17-29, 9-15 Heart) won the opener 5-1, but dropped the nightcap 4-2.

WPU honored seven seniors before play and then doted on Head Coach Mike Christner between contests; Christner is retiring after 22 years at the helm.

The hosts started their day out on a high note, scoring twice in the second inning of the opener by taking advantage of a Clarke error.  Kiana Young (Sr., Las Vegas, Nev., Exercise Science) tallied a one-out single and then Sarah Gallivan (Sr., Round Lake, Ill., Secondary Education) put a ball into play.  The Pride defense attempted to get Young out at second on a force-out, but the ball was thrown into center field and Young scored.  Gallivan later came in on a groundout by Charley Geguzis (Jr., Williamsburg, Iowa, Business Management).

Clarke (11-30, 4-18 Heart) scored once in the fourth to cut the margin to one at 2-1, but got shut down the rest of the game.  The navy and gold tacked on three more runs in the fifth.  Shiloh Cunningham (Sr., Lynnville, Sully, Biology) started the stretch with a single, while Zoey Jones (Jr., Ottumwa, Iowa) joined her on the basepaths via an error.  Abby Wilson (Sr., Calgary, Alberta, Biology) then put down a bunt and an errant throw allowed Cunningham to come in.

Quiroga drove in the final two runs of the game on a single that plated Jones and Wilson.  The Statesmen held a slim 5-4 edge in hits with five separate players managing a base knock.

Ashton Brown (Jr., Ottumwa, Iowa, Mechanical Engineering) started the contest and pitched well over 3 2/3 frames.  She struck out four and permitted just one run on four hits.  Emily Bryant (Jr., University Place, Wash., Nursing) relieved Brown in the fourth and not only closed out the matchup, but also collected the win.  The junior was perfect by sitting down all 10 batters she faced out of the bullpen.

The Pride scored first in the nightcap, putting two runs on the board in the top of the third frame.  Quiroga answered in the bottom half of the third by doubling in Wilson, while a single by Nayely Martinez (Jr., Carson, Calif., Business Management) scored Cunningham in the fourth to tie the game at 2-2.

Unfortunately, Clarke regained the lead with two runs in the sixth and the Statesmen could not find a response.  WPU recorded eight hits (CU had nine) with Quiroga leading the way at 3-for-3.  Chelsey Huff (So., Douds, Iowa, Exercise Science), who also pitched five innings, tallied two hits in the loss.

"It was a great day celebrating our seniors," said Head Coach Mike Christner.  "I wish them all the best.  It is hard to play with so many activities going on, but I thought our players did a good job of keeping their focus."

Next Up: William Penn will complete its regular season Saturday as it travels to Peru, Neb. to face Peru State in a Heart doubleheader at 2 p.m.