Pride offense explodes in doubleheader sweep of Maranatha Baptist
WATERTOWN, Wis. - Finishing off a stretch of three-straight days of doubleheaders, the Clarke Unviersity softball team earned a pair of non-conference wins against Maranatha Baptist University by 8-0 and 17-0 finals on Monday evening.
The Pride earned their first run rule victories since Mar. 11 when they earned an 8-0 win over Fitchburg State as part of their spring break trip to Florida as the only other run rule victory for CU on the season came in the season's opener against Viterbo on Feb. 17.
It was a big seven-run third inning in the opener that propelled Clarke to their 8-0 win as Kynadee Harris and Kendall Kasput both drove in two runs in the inning as Harris doubled home two and Kasput followed up with a two-RBI single.
Harlee Makue-Vasconcellos, Emma Hodnet, and Ashley Roberts all produced RBIs in the third inning for CU as well in support of the shutout pitching performance of Payge Pyszka, who struck out a career-high 10 batters while surrendering only two hits for her third win of the season in the circle.
Runs would be scored with more frequency in the second end of the doubleheader as the Pride would score three or more runs in all but one inning as Harris would add two more doubles on the day to finish 4-for-7 with a four-RBI game in the day's finale.
The biggest run producing performance of the day came from Kaylie Holtam as she would go 3-for-3 with six RBIs and two runs scored as the only time she didn't reach base still resulted in an RBI with a first inning sacrifice fly.
Combining for Clarke's second shutout of the day was starting pitcher Ella Wetjen as she would allow just one hit in four inning while striking out nine hitters as Meredith Gatto got an inning's worth of work in the fifth, retiring the side with three-straight strikeouts.
With their 15th and 16th wins of the season, Clarke softball has now set a new season high in wins for head coach Garland Shirley, topping his previous best season of 15 wins back in the 2021 season.
Pride softball will return to Heart of America Athletic Conference play when they travel to Park University and Peru State College on Saturday and Sunday Apr. 20-21 with both day's doubleheaders slated to start at 1:00 p.m. CT.