WPU Takes Down North Dakota Schools
Tucson, Ariz.–The Statesmen softball team earned two more wins on the second-to-last day of its spring break trip Thursday.
William Penn (14-8) defeated Dickinson State (N.D.) 6-2 before thumping Mayville State (N.D.) 14-6. The squad’s winning streak is now four games.
WPU 6, Dickinson State 2
The Blue Hawks, who matched William Penn with six hits, notched the first run of the contest in the top of the second, but WPU responded with two tallies in the bottom half. Tori Smith (So., Olympia, Wash., Secondary Education) singled home Jessica Lathrop (Fr., Ankeny, Iowa, Exercise Science), while Rylee Riesberg (So., Ankeny, Iowa, Exercise Science) later scored.
DSU knotted the game at 2-2 in its next at-bats, but Laila Smith (So., Olympia, Wash., Elementary Education) put the navy and gold on top for good in the fourth with a two-run home run that also plated Marin Frazee (So., Sioux City, Iowa, Exercise Science).
Two insurance runs were tacked on in the fifth via a Dickinson State error.
Laila Smith and Chelsey Huff (Sr., Douds, Iowa, Exercise Science) both finished with two hits, while Laila Smith drove in three runs. Lathrop rounded the pads twice as well.
Huff also locked down the victory with her work on the rubber as she posted five shutout innings. She entered in the third frame and permitted just two hits, while striking out seven DSU batters.
WPU 14, Mayville State 6
The Statesmen scored a season high in runs by belting out 11 hits (eight for MSU) and taking advantage of three Comet errors. Most impressively, however, was that WPU drew 13 walks.
William Penn, which overcame three fielding mistakes of its own, scored right away in the first when Peyton Naranjo (So., Ripon, Calif., Biology) came in on a single by Tori Smith.
MSU got the run back in the bottom of the first, but the navy and gold pulled away with seven unanswered tallies, including five in the second.
Laila Pelds (Jr., Pleasant Hill, Iowa, Elementary Education) provided the big knock with a two-run single. Naranjo drove in a run in the third as well.
The Comets trimmed the advantage to three (8-5) after four frames, but WPU put the game on ice with four sixth-inning scores. RBI hits came from Laila and Tori Smith, Pelds, and Bailee Rinn (Jr., Omaha, Neb., Biology).
In a contest where the Statesmen won by playing ‘small ball’, Laila Smith recorded the lone extra-base hit with a two-run double in the seventh to cap her team’s scoring.
The top of William Penn’s order was on fire, going a combined 9-for-15. Pelds was 3-for-5 with three RBIs, while Laila Smith had two hits and four RBIs. Tori Smith managed a pair of hits with two RBIs, and Naranjo finished with two hits with two runs scored. Naranjo also drew a pair of walks.
Kya Butler (Jr., Newton, Iowa, Sports Management) walked three times and scored thrice, while Rinn matched her with a trio of scores. Riesberg and Frazee also touched home twice each.
Three hurlers were employed against Mayville State with Madie Anderson (Sr., Mount Pleasant, Iowa, Elementary Education) having the most success. The senior, who claimed the win, struck out seven and only allowed one earned run in 3 2/3 innings.
“This was a good day for the Statesmen as we got two solid wins with a ton of players contributing,” Head Coach Laura North said. “We are starting to hit our groove offensively. The weather was tough on our defense, but we had a lot of grit and refused to lose.”
Next Up: William Penn concludes its spring break trip Friday by facing Salve Regina (R.I.) at 1 p.m. and Nelson (Ariz.) at 3 p.m. (Times are Central)
