Pride drop both ends of makeup doubleheader against Missouri Valley

DES MOINES, Iowa - Making up a doubleheader from the first week of Heart of America Athletic Conference play back in March, the Clarke University softball team dropped their games against Missouri Valley College in Des Moines, Iowa on Tuesday.

Falling by scores of 10-1 in the opener and 4-3 in the finale, the day's highlight for the Pride were the pitching performances of freshman Payge Pyszka and sophomore Sydney Haas as Pyszka threw her third complete game of the season and her second of seven innings while allowing four runs on eight hits with only one walk and striking out two in the day's finale.

Haas came in to pitch in relief during the opener as she entered in the second inning to go 5.2 innings, allowing three earned runs on seven hits while striking out a batter after the Vikings would take a 6-1 lead in the top of the second.

CU would never lead in the opening game as they tied the game at 1-1 as both teams scored a run in the first but then the five-run second and a three-run seventh carried MVC to their nine-run advantage by the final out.

In the tight game two, Lily King was an offensive catalyst at the top of the order for the Pride, going 4-for-4 as she was part of all three runs scoring for Clarke, scoring two runs and driving in the other with an RBI.

Daija Bates and Leah Gray were the only members of Clarke softball to produce hits in each game on the day as Bates went 2-for-3 in the second game with an RBI and Kaylie Holtam also had a mutli-hit game in the first game, going 2-for-3 herself.

Clarke will continue a busy final week of the season as they'll be back at Veterans Memorial Park on Wednesday for a non-conference doubleheader against Iowa Wesleyan University for a 2:00 p.m. CT first pitch.