William Penn Athletics News April 21
William Penn Women's Athletics
Lady Statesmen Close on League Leader with 10-0 Win
Mount Pleasant–Less than 24 hours after a fairly ineffective offensive showing against Clarke, the William Penn softball team unloaded with a 10-0 (5 innings) victory over Iowa Wesleyan in Midwest Collegiate Conference action Thursday. The day’s second game was rained out.
Winners of five in a row, the Lady Statesmen (32-12, 12-6 MCC) are still mathematically in second place in the MCC. However, Grand View (15-7) split with Clarke Thursday, leaving William Penn will one fewer loss. The team now just needs to win out to take the conference regular season crown and the #1 seed for MCC Tournament.
The visitors struck immediately with Ashley Stream (Jr., Chariton, Chariton HS) hitting a sacrifice fly to score Molly Miller (So., Kalona, Mid-Prairie HS) in the first frame.
Stream was the offensive hero Thursday, continuing her success in the second with a two-run single. William Penn scored four in that frame, but the junior and her squad were far from done.
The Lady Statesmen put two on base in the fourth before the third baseman uncorked a shot over the fence, a three-run bomb and her fifth homer of the year (setting a new personal season mark).
Miller concluded the game’s scoring with a two-run single in the fifth. William Penn finished with just eight hits, but that was more than enough for pitcher Jennifer Whitehead (Fr., Oskaloosa, Oskaloosa HS), who yielded only two base knocks to the Tigers (11-31, 7-12 MCC).
Whitehead continues to impress in her freshman year, posting her fourth consecutive shutout (eighth overall). She struck out two and walked one in moving to 18-6. The freshman has not allowed a run (earned or not) since April 10, a stretch of 29 innings.
Stream finished 2-for-3 with a career-high six RBIs, while Miller was also 2-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Andrea Rensberger (Sr., Sioux City, Sioux City North HS) was perfect at the plate, going 2-for-2 with two runs.
Ashley Nieto (Jr., Cement City, Mich., Jackson CC) joined Miller and Rensberger by also rounding the bases on two separate occasions.
Next: William Penn travels to Des Moines Friday and Saturday to compete against two ranked Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference teams in the Grand View Invitational. The Lady Statesmen meet #24 Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) Friday in a doubleheader beginning at 10 a.m., while Saturday’s twinbill is versus #19 Saint Xavier (Ill.) with a start time of 2 p.m.
Butler Qualifies in Hammer, Three Others Win at Central Open
Pella–Cooler temperatures prevented athletes from putting up great numbers Thursday, but the William Penn track and field teams still managed a good deal of success at the Central Open.
Rachel Butler (Sr., Orange County, Calif., Calvary Chapel Downey HS) highlighted the navy and gold effort by qualifying for nationals with a hammer throw of 154-0. The throw, good for third in the event, just met the NAIA’s ‘B’ standard and also broke the senior’s own school record.
Butler also placed seventh in the discus at 121-3.
Three gold medals were captured at the Open, including Carlos Stepter (Sr., Highland Park, Mich., Highland Park HS) in the 100-meter dash with a season-best time of 10.77 seconds.
Fellow Statesmen Javaras Thomas (Sr., Miami, Fla., Miami Beach HS) made his outdoor season debut a good one by claiming the triple jump title at 45-10.5. He also placed fourth in the long jump at 22-0.25.
Katie Burnett (Sr., Mesa, Ariz., Arizona) rounded out William Penn’s champions with a season-best javelin toss of 136-1. She had already qualified for nationals in the event with a ‘B’ standard, but her mark on Thursday eclipsed the ‘A’ standard.
Royce Clay (Sr., Miami, Fla., Booker T. Washington HS) and Jonathan Pope (Sr., Starkville, Miss., Starkville HS) matched Thomas by placing in the top ten twice in the jumps. Clay was third in the long at 22-3 and runner-up to Thomas in the triple at 45-7 (both season highs). Pope tied his season best in the high at 6-4, good for fourth, and was seventh in the long at 21-0.
Blake Washington (Fr., Knoxville, Knoxville HS) produced a silver-winning performance in the 800-meter run (season-best time of 2:00.49), while Nick Reynolds (Jr., Riverton, Utah, Iowa Western CC), who was seventh in the 5,000-meter run (16:10.33), and Walter Herron (Jr., Houston, Texas, Westfield HS), who was tenth in the javelin (season-best throw of 135-2), also finished in the top ten.
Also on the women’s side, Laura Gentry-Jones (Fr., Fruitland, Idaho, Fruitland HS) was third in the discus with a season-best mark of 129-1 and Michaela Beck (Fr., Onawa, West Monona HS) finished seventh in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.42 seconds.
Next: William Penn will send most of its competitors to Indianola Friday and Saturday for the Kip Janvrin Open hosted by Simpson. Others may see action during the weekend at the prestigious Drake Relays in Des Moines.
