Navy and Gold Win Twice at Central Tournament

William Penn University Athletics

Oskaloosa–The Statesmen softball team snapped its losing streak with a pair of wins as part of the Central Tournament Sunday.

William Penn (11-16), which entered the day having lost four in a row, defeated Buena Vista 4-1 and then knocked off Dubuque 2-1.

First-game scoring began in the third when Kodee Johnson (Jr., Stockton, Calif., General Mathematics) scored on an error.

The Statesmen tacked on three more runs in the sixth as relief pitcher Elizabeth Whitaker (Jr., Azalea, Ore., Exercise Science) helped her own cause with an RBI single. Breann Robertson (Fr., Rainier, Wash., Human Services and Sociology) put the game on ice with a two-run double later in the frame. WPU would go on to outhit the Beavers 6-1.

Chyanne Koko (So., Waianae, Hawaii, Business Management) picked up the win with four scoreless innings (one hit), striking out one and walking one. Whitaker was equally, if not more, impressive with six Ks (one BB) in three frames for the save.

Dubuque put the first run on the board in the second inning of the day’s latter contest, but William Penn’s fourth-inning long balls proved to be the difference.

Marissa Pereyra (Sr., Fullerton, Calif., Exercise Science) tied the contest with a solo home run, her third of the season. Jarrah Jensen (Jr., Blakesburg, Iowa, Physical Education) then put the Statesmen on top for good with her own solo roundtripper (her first of 2016).

Pereyra tallied two of her team’s seven hits (the Spartans had seven as well).

Tabitha Scott (Fr., Placentia, Calif., Psychology) managed two strikeouts with one walk in four innings of work for the ‘W’, while Whitaker added two more Ks in another three frames of relief for her second save of the day.

Next Up: William Penn travels to Marshall, Mo. Tuesday to face Missouri Valley in a Heart of America Athletic Conference doubleheader at 1 p.m.