Pride drop both ends of Saturday doubleheader to No. 6 CMU

DUBUQUE, Iowa - Coming off of their first Heart of America Athletic Conference wins a day ago, the Clarke University softball faced their toughest test of the season so far in No. 6 ranked Central Methodist University on Saturday as the Eagles came away victorious in both ends of the doubleheader by scores of 7-0 and 5-3.

CMU's comfortable game one win came behind a three-hit shutout from starting pitcher Veronica Dearth who threw just 84 pitches while striking out seven Pride hitters for her fifth win of the season.

The Eagles also produced a run in all but two innings in the game starting with a pair in the top of the first on a Kaysie Jolley single to make it 2-0 early as she would add another RBI single in the fourth on her way to finishing 4-for-5 with three RBIs.

Another three RBI game for Central Methodist came from shortstop Madison Roberts who went 5-for-5 with three driven in and three runs scored with leadoff hitter Joely Crider also having a mutli-hit game as the DP with two runs scored.

Two of the three hits from Clarke came from their DP Teal Transburg as she went 2-for-3 on the day with Kaylie Holtam having the other hit out of the CU lineup that was shutout for just the fourth time this season.

Roberts and Jolley would produce for the Eagles again in the first inning of game two, both with RBI knocks with a single from Roberts getting the scoring started then Jolley doubled home Roberts to make it 2-0 after an inning again.

There wouldn't be any scoring off of starting pitchers Meredith Gatto of the Pride and Haley Cotter of CMU until the fifth inning when the teams would trade matching offensive innings with Maddie Holly driving in a run for Central Methodist with a sacrifice fly, then Holtam would single in Clarke's first run of the day to make it 3-1.

Daly Garland and Crider would each have an RBI for the Eagles in the sixth to extend their lead to four runs before CU would once again answer to bring the lead back to just two on a Kennedi LeDuff RBI single then taking advantage of a little sloppy defense from CMU, scoring on an error to make it 5-3.

Clarke would put up another fight in their final at bats, getting singles from Lauren Hefel and Olivia Sikora to make it first and second with two outs but relief pitcher Khloe Perkins got the final out in her second inning of work for her first save of the season.

Hefel and LeDuff would have mutli-hit games for the Pride as Hefel went 3-for-4 with a run scored and LeDuff produced a pair of hits, including her RBI single in the sixth as CU put up 11 hits in the game but left nine runners on base as a team.

Clarke softball will continue on into Heart play as they'll get back on the road for the next two doubleheaders starting with a rivalry matchup against Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Wednesday, Apr. 2 for a 4:00 p.m. CT scheduled first pitch at Busse Field between the Pride and Mustangs.