Pride softball senior trio earn Heart All-Conference honors for 2024 performance

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - With the Heart of America Athletic Conference Softball Tournament in its second day of action, conference officials announced the 2024 All-Conference selections on Friday afternoon with three members of Clarke University softball earning honors for their 2024 season performances.

Those three members of the Pride, all seniors, include infielder Elizabeth Leverton, pitcher/utility Malarie Huseman, and center fielder Lily King as Leverton and Huseman earned spots on the All-Heart Second Team while King was an Honorable Mention selection.

Leverton, an East Peoria, Ill. native, was one of the five Heart infielders voted onto a Second Team infield spot as she led the team in batting average at a .370 clip while also touting a .411 on base percentage with seven walks and only three strikeouts on the season serving as the primary second baseman for CU. The left-handed hitter with both a tradtional and slap hitter approach in her arsenal finished her 32-games played with 37 hits, three doubles, 14 runs scored, and six RBIs while also going a perfect 5-for-5 on stolen bases. This is the third-straight season Leverton receives All-Heart honors and the first time she has been voted above an Honorable Mention selection in her four-year career at Clarke.

Huseman, the Dubuque native, received an at-large spot onto the Second Team for her pitching ability as she finished 2024 with Clarke-best numbers in the circle of a 3.15 ERA in 117.2 innings pitched, 90 strikeouts for a 5.35 strikeouts per seven inning stat, a 1.19 WHIP, 15 complete games of her 18 starts, nine wins, and one save. Huseman allowed three or fewer earned runs in 12 of her 18 starts and seven of her starts finished at a one or two-run margin regardless of a win or loss as the final result. This spot on the second team a return to the All-Heart teams after earning an Honorable Mention selection as a sophomore in 2022 but missing out in 2023 following an injury shortened season.

King, an Ankeny, Iowa native, wrapped up her Clarke career with her second selection to an All-Heart team after her Second Team honor in 2023 as she finished 2024 slashing .288/.320/.388 with 40 hits, three doubles, four triples, and an inside the park home run. The speedy leadoff hitter scored 23 runs, most on the team, while also driving in 14 batters and finishing with a team-high eight stolen bases for the Pride.

Clarke softball finished the 2024 season with their best record since the 2018 season at a 21-23 overall record, the most wins under head coach Garland Shirley and a 7-17 record in the Heart finishing in a tie for 11th place in the conference standings.