Nightcap Dominance Helps WPU Split with MMU
William Penn Women’s Athletics
Cedar Rapids–Nine runs in the final inning of the day sent the Statesmen softball team back home on a high note as William Penn split a Midwest Collegiate Conference doubleheader with Mount Mercy Sunday.
William Penn (13-24, 6-6 MCC) dropped the day’s first game 4-3, but rebounded with a 15-2 win in the second game.
Bri Zerley (Sr., Monroe, Iowa, Biology) scored the day’s first run on a second-inning sacrifice fly by Jorden Steele (Sr., Tacoma, Wash., Physical Education). After the Mustangs (12-19, 1-9 MCC) answered with one in the bottom of the second, Taylor Vernon (Fr., Tracy, Calif., Biology) put her team back ahead 2-1 in the fourth with a lead-off solo home run. The freshman now has two roundtrippers this spring.
Steele brought in Zerley one more time in the fifth, but she and Vernon were both thrown out at home later in the frame. Those unscored runs would come back to bite the visitors as Mount Mercy tied the game in the bottom of the fifth with two runs and then won it with a walk-off in the seventh.
Vernon paced the navy and gold by going 2-for-2 (one walk as well) as both teams had seven hits. Lunden Young (Sr., Lewiston, Idaho, Exercise Science) fell to 5-10, giving up three earned runs with five strikeouts and two walks.
Two runs by WPU in the third inning of game two were equaled by the home team in the fourth. Zerley’s double brought in both tallies.
Zerley then singled in another score in the fifth to put the Statesmen up for good. Brittanee Grove (Sr., Runnells, Iowa, Elementary Education) got into the RBI act in the sixth with a two-run double, while Zerley had another run-scoring single as well.
The nine-run seventh frame was highlighted by a two-run double by Sydney Edwards (Sr., Galesburg, Ill., Biology & Psychology). Seven other players also recorded an RBI in the huge inning.
Zerley’s 3-for-4 effort guided WPU’s season-high 18-hit showing. Ashlee Dennis (Sr., Loveland, Colo., Biology) was 3-for-6 (3 R, 2 RBI), while Grove was 2-for-3 (3 RBI, 3 R), Steele was 3-for-5, and Chyanne Koko (Fr., Waianae, Hawaii, Business Management) was 2-for-5 (2 R). Chelsee Herron (Jr., Anaheim, Calif., Elementary Education) also rounded the pads twice.
Grove (7-6) moved above the .500 mark, permitting two unearned runs on five hits. She struck out three and walked four in the victory.
