Statesmen Held Scoreless in Benedictine Sweep

Atchison, Kan.–The William Penn softball team was unable to take advantage of its opportunities as it was swept by Benedictine in a Heart of America Athletic Conference-opening doubleheader Saturday.

WPU (13-15, 2-2 Heart) fell by scores of 6-0 and 5-0.

The navy and gold, who were outhit 11-5 in the opener, fell behind 3-0 in the bottom of the first inning and never recovered.

BC (24-4, 4-0 Heart) came up empty over the next three innings, but then doubled the advantage with three more runs in the fifth.

The visitors recorded just one base knock through the opening five frames, but produced some offense late with two hits in each of the last two innings. Unfortunately, the Statesmen were thrown out at bags in both the sixth and seventh as the Ravens completed the shutout.

Chelsey Huff (Jr., Douds, Iowa, Exercise Science), who managed one hit, struck out five Benedictine batters in the complete-game loss.

WPU’s deficit in hits was just two at 9-7 in the nightcap, but it was the same story with the visitors failing to produce the timely base knock. The Statesmen put runners in scoring position in the first and second and then loaded the pads in the seventh, but on each occasion, it was to no avail.

Alexis Price (So., Oskaloosa, Iowa, Elementary Education) paced the navy and gold with a 2-for-3 showing.

“Benedictine is a good, solid team and we got beat, and that is all there is to it,” Head Coach Laura North said. “We were knocking on the door a number of times, but just could not get any runs across.”

“We unfortunately also had a couple of innings where our defense let us down, but we also had some really good plays from the outfield that kept us in it,” North added. “Hopefully we can put all the puzzle pieces together this week and be ready for the next round of conference games.”

Next Up: William Penn returns to Oskaloosa next Friday for its home opener, hosting Mount Mercy in a Heart doubleheader at 1 p.m.