Statesmen Fall Short Twice Against #10 Saint Xavier

William Penn Women’s Athletics

Chicago, Ill.–Two spectacular pitching performances could not fix a tough day at the plate as the William Penn softball team fell twice to #10 Saint Xavier in non-conference action Friday.

The Statesmen (26-15) fell 1-0 (ten innings) and 2-0.

The visitors were limited to only three hits in the opener, including just one in the first seven innings of regulation. Fortunately, after suffering through a few difficult outings, Jennifer Whitehead (Sr., Oskaloosa, Iowa, Biology) was back to her stout self Friday and kept the Cougars (33-3) at bay.

WPU got runners to second base in the fourth, seventh, and eighth, but failed to really produce a powerful threat. SXU challenged a few times against Whitehead as well, finally breaking through with the lone run in the tenth by taking advantage of the second of the Statesmen’s errors.

Whitehead (17-5) gave up the one unearned run on seven hits. She struck out six and walked two in the opener. Brittanee Grove (Jr., Runnells, Iowa, Elementary Education) was the top offensive player for the navy and gold by reaching base three times (one hit, two walks).

Grove was equally impressive as the pitcher in the nightcap, giving up only seven hits to fall to 5-5. The junior had six strikeouts against one walk, but gave up one score in the first and another in the third and WPU had no answer at the plate with just four base knocks.

The Statesmen were successful in loading the bases in the third and then getting runners at second and third in the fourth frame. The timely hit just never came for WPU though as it lost back-to-back contests for just the third time this spring.

Next: William Penn travels to Bourbonnais, Ill. Saturday to face #7 Olivet Nazarene in another non-league double dip beginning at 11 a.m.