William Penn Splits Day One at Tucson Invitational Games
Tucson, Ariz.– The Statesmen softball team traveled to the desert to compete in the Tucson Invitational Games beginning Thursday.
William Penn opened the tournament by splitting a pair of contests, falling to Indiana Wesleyan 5-0 before bouncing back with a 9-3 victory over College of Saint Mary.
Indiana Wesleyan 5, WPU 0
WPU was unable to generate any offense in the contest, while the Wildcats struck first with a run in the opening inning.
Indiana Wesleyan added to its lead in the bottom of the sixth, scoring four more runs to extend the advantage to 5-0 and secure the victory.
Tori Smith (Jr., Olympia, Wash., Secondary Education) led the Statesmen offensively, recording a double in the contest.
WPU 9, College of Saint Mary 3
In a bounce-back performance in game two, William Penn opened the first inning with plenty of offense. Laila Smith (Jr., Olympia, Wash., Elementary Education) led things off with an RBI single to left field, bringing home Marin Frazee (Jr., Sioux City, Iowa, Exercise Science). Leah Conlon (Fr., Sioux City, Iowa, Exercise Science) followed with a single to center field that scored Laila Smith, giving the Statesmen a 2-0 lead.
In the top of the third inning, the Flames plated two runs to tie the game at 2-2.
Tori Smith helped the Statesmen regain the lead as she reached base on an error, allowing Marin Frazee to score once again and putting WPU ahead 3-2 in the bottom of the third.
College of Saint Mary would not go away, responding in the top of the fourth inning with another run to tie the game once again at 3-3.
The game swung in favor of William Penn in the bottom of the fourth inning. Laila Gutierrez (Jr., Seminole, Texas, Business Management) started the rally with a single to the left side, advancing two runners and scoring Rylee Riesberg (Jr., Ankeny, Iowa, Exercise Science) to give the Statesmen a 4-3 lead.
Marin Frazee added two more runs for the Statesmen with a single up the middle, driving in Bailee Rinn (Sr., Omaha, Neb., Biology) and Breleigh Mengel (Fr., Jefferson, Wis., Nursing) to extend WPU’s lead to 6-3.
The rally continued as Laila Smith delivered an RBI single to center field, bringing home Marin Frazee and Laila Gutierrez to push the Statesmen lead to 8-3.
William Penn added the final run of the game in the bottom of the fifth inning, as Laila Smith came through again for WPU, bringing home Laila Gutierrez for the ninth run of the contest, securing the 9-3 victory.
Laila Smith led the Statesmen offense, recording three hits, four RBIs, and scoring a run of her own. Tori Smith added a double, while Marin Frazee stole two bases and crossed the plate three times.
Defensively, Shannon Van Rheenen (Fr., Oskaloosa, Iowa, Nursing) faced all 27 batters in a complete-game performance, allowing just one earned run.
Up Next: The Statesmen remain in Tucson, Ariz., to continue play in the Tucson Invitational Games, where they are scheduled to face Dakota Wesleyan and Embry-Riddle on Friday.
