Statesmen Wrap Regular Season with Sweep of MVC
William Penn University Athletics
by Wade Steinlage
Oskaloosa–Headlined by three home runs, the William Penn softball team sent its eldest Statesmen out in style with a Heart of America Athletic Conference doubleheader sweep of Missouri Valley on Senior Day Sunday.
WPU (23-31, 14-20 Heart) won by scores of 10-1 (6 innings) and 5-2. The navy and gold will unfortunately have little time to celebrate as they begin postseason action Monday by facing Graceland at 3 p.m. in the play-in game of the Heart Tournament. The victor of the single contest will then hit the road for Cedar Rapids to continue in the double-elimination event which runs from Wednesday through Saturday.
The hosts put runners in scoring position in three of the first four frames of the opener, but had nothing to show for those efforts. The Vikings (13-34, 6-28 Heart) were also quiet early on, but broke the scoreless tie with a run in the top half of fifth.
William Penn also finally figured things out in the fifth. Sonia Reddy (Jr., Tracy, Calif., Exercise Science) and Melina Fabian (Fr., Las Vegas, Nev., Exercise Science) each recorded one-out singles, and then Kiya Harper (Jr., Decatur, Ill., Exercise Science) brought herself and her teammates in with a three-run home run.
Two additional runs were plated later in the fifth, but the Statesmen were far from done, posting the same crooked number in the sixth. All of the damage was done with two outs. Harper enjoyed leaving the park so much a frame earlier that she did it again, connecting on her team-best seventh roundtripper of the campaign. The junior was 3-for-4 with five RBIs and two runs scored.
Lexi Riccardi (Jr., Redwood City, Calif., Biology) decided to join the party, clearing the fence three batters late on a two-run shot to close out the win in mercy-rule fashion. The junior now has three home runs in the 2019 campaign.
WPU pummeled the ball throughout the contest with a 15-3 advantage in hits. While Harper hit the sphere the farthest, Lindsay Lambert (Jr., Elk Grove, Calif., Elementary Education) hit it the most with a 4-for-4 outing.
Riccardi and Emily Brown (Sr., Waverly, Iowa, Biology) each finished with two base knocks as well, while Reddy and Lambert joined Harper with a pair of runs scored.
The lone run against Karlee-Rose Perry (Sr., Kaupo, Hawaii, General Biology) came unearned as the senior struck out four in a complete game.
Brown got the offense going right away in the nightcap, producing a run-scoring double in the first. The senior then grew the margin to three with a two-run bomb in the third.
Savannah Fleming (Sr., Gooding, Idaho, Exercise Science) helped the hosts make it 4-0 in the fourth as her one-bagger plated Riccardi.
The Vikings challenged late, but could only get one run in both the fifth and sixth, while Riccardi produced one final RBI on a sacrifice fly to score Harper and conclude the day’s scoring. Brown and Shelby Copley (Sr., Denver, Colo., Biology), who got the start in the batting order for the first time all season, topped WPU with a pair of hits. Brown managed three RBIs and Harper crossed home plate two times.
Copley shut the door on MVC, striking out two with a walk in 1 2/3 relief frames. Katie Springer (Jr., Riverside, Iowa, Psychology and Human Services) received the win as she struck out four (five walks). The senior allowed two runs on seven scattered hits in 5 1/3 innings as the starting hurler.
