Quiroga Homers Three Times as Statesmen Open Heart Play with Split
Oskaloosa–Valeria Quiroga (Fr., San Benito, Texas, Sociology) enjoyed her first experience at Penn Field as she homered three times in the William Penn softball team’s home and Heart of America Athletic Conference opener against Peru State Friday.
WPU (7-7, 1-1 Heart) lost the first game 1-0, but responded with a 6-4 victory in the nightcap.
The Statesmen were stymied by Bobcat pitcher Alana Krieser, being no-hit in the opener. Dakota Kulis (Fr., Chicago, Ill., Biology) was strong as well, scattering just six hits over 6 1/3 innings with three strikeouts.
Unfortunately, PSC (10-10, 4-1 Heart) strung together a pair of doubles in the fifth inning to tally the game’s lone run.
Lexi Resa (Jr., Liberty, Mo., Biology) denied Krieser a perfect game by drawing a walk in the fourth.
The navy and gold became more patient at the plate in the second bout and found a groove. No one did it better than Quiroga, however, as she broke a program record (since 1999) with three home runs.
The freshman’s first roundtripper gave William Penn a 1-0 advantage in the first inning with a solo shot over the right-center fence.
Following a single from Charley Geguzis (Fr., Williamsburg, Iowa), Jayde Tucker (So., Los Alamos, N.M.) brought her around with a double to make it 2-0 in favor of the home squad after two frames.
The Bobcats put two on board to tie the game in the top of the third, but another trip to the dish in the bottom of the third meant another chance for Quiroga to leave the park and she did so with a two-run shot to center field, scoring Resa in the process.
The Statesmen then tacked on two more runs in the fifth. Quiroga scored the first with an epic battle against Cheyenne Leach, who had already given up the first two bombs. Quiroga fouled several pitches well out of play down the left field line and then squared up on a ball and made history by clearing the left-center fence.
Numerous individuals had previously posted two homers in one game, but the freshman became the first to do it on three occasions. Game box scores are not available prior to 1999, but it is believed Quiroga is likely the only player, even prior to 1999, to hit three home runs in a single outing.
With a new pitcher in the game following Quiroga’s shot, Lexi Riccardi (Sr., Redwood City, Calif., Biology) then padded the advantage with sloppy Bobcat defense. She dribbled a ball to the new hurler, but the ball skipped to the first baseman to allow Riccardi to reach. Riccardi then turned hard to second base, goading the pitcher into a throw, which sailed into center field. Peru State finished off a troubling sequence by air-mailing a ball towards its dugout which allowed Riccardi to take the final two bases and put WPU ahead 6-2.
The visitors cut the margin to two in the final two frames, but Peyton Parker (Jr., LaPorte City, Iowa, Sports Management) was able to close it down with a three-out save.
Rebecca De Leon (Fr., Ceres, Calif.) took the win, permitting four runs (all earned) on 13 hits. She struck out two in six innings of effort.
In addition to Quiroga finishing 3-for-3 with four RBIs and three runs scored, five other players managed one base knock each for a total of eight hits by the Statesmen.
Next Up: William Penn travels to Cedar Rapids Saturday to face Mount Mercy in a Heart doubleheader at 3 p.m.
