Lady Statesmen Pound St. Ambrose 9-0 to Reach First Round Finals
William Penn Women's Athletics
Oskaloosa–Khyia Lewis (Sr., Ottumwa, Ottumwa HS) and Brianne Rowley (Sr., Hood River, Ore., Blue Mountain CC) improved upon their record-breaking seasons with three more long shots as the William Penn softball team defeated St. Ambrose 9-0 (six innings) at the Midwest Collegiate Conference First Round Pod Tournament.
The Lady Statesmen (41-15) scored in five of six innings to advance to the finals of the pod event. As the top seed, William Penn advances to next weekend’s Final Four no matter what happens, but playing at home for the final time this year, it was evident the navy and gold wants to go out on top.
That seems especially true for seniors Lewis and Rowley, who are now tied with each other with a school record 16 home runs.
Rowley cleared the fence first on a two-run roundtripper in the first.
Two more runs were put on the scoreboard in the third, courtesy of a triple by Ashley Stream (Sr., Chariton, Chariton HS).
Ashlee Dennis (Fr., Loveland, Colo., Mountain View HS) recorded an RBI single in the fourth to make it 5-0, while Lewis accounted for three of the final four runs.
The senior led off the fifth frame with a solo homer and Athena Rosario (Sr., Bremerton, Wash., Olympic CC) brought in Stream on a groundout.
Rowley then produced a two-out double in the sixth, setting up her teammate’s heroics as Lewis walked off with a two-run laser shot over the left field wall.
William Penn owned an 11-5 edge in hits, including two by Rowley, Lewis, Stream, and Molly Miller (Jr., Kalona, Mid-Prairie HS). Lewis finished with three RBIs and three runs scored, while Stream and Rowley posted two RBIs. Miller and Rowley crossed home plate on two occasions each.
Jennifer Whitehead (So., Oskaloosa, Oskaloosa HS) earned her 20th win for the second-consecutive year. The sophomore (20-9) struck out ten (no walks) for her ninth shutout of 2012.
The sixth-seeded Queen Bees (28-26) will now face #9 seed Clarke in Sunday morning’s elimination game at 11 a.m. The winner meets the Lady Statesmen at 1:15 p.m.
