Season-opening doubleheader produces strong highlights for Pride softball

AUSTIN, Minn. - Opening their 2024 in the familiarity of the Packer Dome in Austin, Minn., the Clarke University softball team earned a pair of wins in their first games of the season with a five-inning 8-0 win over Viterbo University and a 4-1 victory over Waldorf University on Saturday afternoon.

The run-rule victory over the V-Hawks was highlighted by the five perfect innings pitched by senior Malarie Huseman as she faced the minimum of 15 hitters in the five innings pitched while striking out seven of those 15 hitters for her first victory of the yaer.

It wouldn't take long for Clarke to jump on top of Viterbo as they would score twice in the bottom of the first after the slap duo of Lily King and Elizabeth Leverton at the top of the order reached on a walk and error respectively before a double steal put them in scoring position for Emma Hodnet to drive in the season's first run with a scarfice fly to score King.

Leverton was driven home by a Kaylie Holtam single but that would be all that CU would have on the board in the first and for the next three innings until Holtam would drive in another run with an RBI single to push King across home plate again to make it 3-0 heading into the fifth.

The bottom of the fifth would see the Pride walk it off, so to speak, as they would bring five runs across in the bottom of the inning with King, Leverton, Hodnet, and Holtam all driving in runs with hits and Huseman of all people sealing her five-inning perfecto with a bases loaded walk to score the eighth run.

Another pitching performance would highlight the day's finale for the Pride as freshman Meredith Gatto took to the circle for the first time in her collegiate career as the Dubuque native pitched a complete game seven innings allowing one run on three hits with four walks and six strikeouts as the only blemish on her ledger came on a first inning solo home run from Waldorf.

Both Leverton and Hodnet continued to swing it well for CU finishing game two with two hits each as they started a top of the first inning rally with Leverton reaching on a single and Hodnet on a walk before Jada Nanni and Taryn Hoffman drove both they and Daija Bates in with Nanni driving in one and Hoffman knocking in two in her first collegiate at bat for the freshman catcher from Cascade, Iowa.

Those three would be enough for Gatto but Clarke would add another insurance run in the second inning with the final five and a half innings finishing scoreless to wrap up and season-opening pair of wins for the Pride.

Clarke softball will be back in action next Friday when they travel to Aurora, Ill. for a Friday morning doubleheader against Trinity Christian College on Feb. 23 for a 9:00 a.m. CT first pitch against the Trolls.