Statesmen Pick Up Pair of Wins on Third Day in Arizona

Tucson, Ariz.--The William Penn softball team notched two victories as it continued its spring break trip Tuesday.

WPU (12-8) defeated Westcliff (Calif.) 7-4 and then took care of Valley City State (N.D.) 4-3.  The squad has now won three games in a row.

WPU 7, Westcliff 4

Buoyed by an 11-7 advantage in hits, the navy and gold overcame a pair of fielding errors.

William Penn snatched an early lead and never surrendered it.  Laila Smith (So., Olympia, Wash., Elementary Education) did the scoring in the top of the first via a double steal.

Laila Pelds (Jr., Pleasant Hill, Iowa, Elementary Education) then made it 2-0 with an RBI single that scored Marin Frazee (So., Sioux City, Iowa, Exercise Science), while Chelsey Huff (Sr., Douds, Iowa, Exercise Science) tacked on two more tallies with a one-bagger that brought in Pelds and Peyton Naranjo (So., Ripon, Calif., Biology).

After WU broke through with a run in the third, Jessica Lathrop (Fr., Ankeny, Iowa, Exercise Science) again made it a four-run margin by touching home plate in the fourth.

The Warriors closed to within one in the following frames, but Huff drove in two insurance runs in the seventh as Naranjo and Frazee came in on her single.

Naranjo managed a team-high three hits, while the trio of Huff, Pelds, and Frazee all finished with two base knocks.

Three strikeouts were recorded by Huff in 3 1/3 innings as the starter, but Tori Smith (So., Olympia, Wash., Secondary Education) earned the win with one strikeout in 1 1/3 scoreless relief frames.

Madie Anderson (Sr., Mount Pleasant, Iowa, Elementary Education) kept Westcliff at bay, notching the save with three more strikeouts in 2 1/3 scoreless innings of her own.

WPU 4, Valley City State 3

The Statesmen also produced the first runs in the second bout of the day, and again held off a charge from their foe.  William Penn found a way to win although it was outhit 5-4 by the Vikings.

All of WPU's scoring came in the third, beginning with Laila Smith driving in Frazee and Kya Butler (Jr., Newton, Iowa, Sports Management) on a double.

Naranjo, via an error, and Laila Smith, on a theft of home, also came around.

VCSU responded with three runs in its next at-bats, but Huff and the Statesmen defense thwarted the comeback.  Anderson, who permitted the Vikings' three runs, garnered the win with three strikeouts in four frames, while Huff earned the save by allowing only one hit in three innings of scoreless pitching.  She had one strikeout in the performance.

Naranjo paced her lineup with a pair of walks.

"We are back to our winning ways," Head Coach Laura North said.  "We executed some great plays, but still have room for growth.  We are excited to see where that growth will take us."

Next Up: After taking a day off, William Penn remains in Tucson, Ariz. Thursday to play Dickinson State (N.D.) at 2:30 p.m. (CST) and Mayville State (N.D.) at 4:30 p.m. (CST)