William Penn Loses Opener to Azusa Pacific

William Penn Women's Athletics

Gulf Shores, Ala.–The Lady Statesmen softball team struggled to produce many positives as it opened pool play at the NAIA Softball National Championships with a five-inning, 15-0 loss to #8 Azusa Pacific (Calif.) Thursday.

William Penn (46-17) allowed runs in each of the five innings and will now need to win its final two pool games and receive some help to advance to the double-elimination bracket tournament.

The navy and gold next face #9 Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) Friday at 4:30 p.m. Fans can listen to the game on KBOE 740 AM or on the web by going to http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/kboe.portal#

The Lady Statesmen were nearly out of trouble in each of the three innings, but failed to get the third and final out. The Cougars (41-10) rallied with two outs in all of the frames, scoring three in the first and four in the second and third.

That was enough to chase starter Jennifer Whitehead (So., Oskaloosa, Oskaloosa HS) out of the circle. Nicole Danna (Jr., Boone, Iowa Central CC) and Amber Daly (Sr., Napa, Calif., Solano CC) made appearances out of the bullpen, but neither had much success either.

William Penn was outhit 13-3 and committed four fielding errors. Molly Miller (Jr., Kalona, Mid-Prairie HS) tallied two hits, while Ashley Kingery (Jr., Knoxville, Knoxville HS) managed the other base knock. Athena Rosario (Sr., Bremerton, Wash., Olympic CC) drew a walk and KC Routos (Jr., Newcastle, Wash., Pierce CC) reached on an error.