Pair of comebacks fall short for Pride in losses to William Penn

DUBUQUE, Iowa - On the day that was originally scheduled as the 2022 season finale, the Clarke University softball team came up just short in a pair of games against William Penn University by final scores of 7-4 and 9-8 on Sunday afternoon.

The Pride faced 6-1 and 7-1 deficits in each contest but were able to pull within two runs and one run in each game before the Statesmen closed out both games on top to cut off the CU comebacks.

In both games, errors on the defensive end would cost Clarke as they would make four errors in the opener and only one in the finale but that one was unforced and costly as a toss back to the pitcher would lead directly to a run scoring and indirectly to another one.

Game one starting pitcher Malarie Huseman allowed only four earned runs out of the seven total allowed on 12 hits with no walks and four strikeouts but was unable to repeat her performance from this past Tuesday when she no-hit Mount Mercy.

Offensively, both teams cracked double digit hits in each games as the Pride had 10 in game one and 14 in game two as they scored 10 of their 12 total runs on the day in the sixth inning or later.

In the seventh inning of game two, they put up five runs to get within a run of a tie as the bases were loaded with two outs but William Penn was able to secure the final out on a ground out to the shortstop to secure the doubleheader sweep.

At the plate for Clarke, Abby Archer (4-4), Samantha Stout (3-4), Leah Gray (3-4), and Lindsey Herrmann (2-3) all had multi-hit games with at least both of an RBI and a run scored as Stout cracked a solo home run over the center field fence to tie the game at 1-1 in the fifth inning for the first home run of her career.

In the first game of the day, Gray (2-3), Huseman (2-4), and Daija Bates (3-4) all had mutli-hit games with one of their hits coming as a double.

Clarke softball will finish up the 2022 regular season with a makeup date on Monday afternoon against Grand View University at Veterans Memorial Park with the day's first pitch scheduled for 2:00 p.m. CT.