A frustrating 2015 season came to an end Saturday as the William Penn softball team fell twice at the Midwest Collegiate Conference Final Four Tournament.

The third-seeded Statesmen (22-30) first fell 10-2 (6 innings) to #2 Clarke and then ended their campaign with an 8-3 loss to #4 St. Ambrose.

The Crusaders (30-30) took the early lead with a run in the first, but WPU answered back in the third when Brittanee Grove drove in Sydney Edwards on a single.

Unfortunately, Clarke pulled away in the bottom half with six tallies. Bri Zerley then accounted for her team’s second and final run on a sixth-inning single by Chyanne Koko.

The higher seed finished off the game with three more runs in the bottom of the sixth.

William Penn was outhit just 9-8 with Grove and Marissa Pereyra both managing two hits.

Lunden Young struck out five in relief.

The elimination game witnessed the navy and gold rebounding from a 1-0 deficit entering the top of the fourth. The Statesmen scored once in the fourth and once more in the fifth to lead 2-1. Pereyra’s sacrifice fly brought home Grove for the first tally, while Edwards touched home on a single by Jorden Steele.

The Queen Bees (25-23-1) took the lead back with seven consecutive runs to go up 8-2. Steele scored the final run of 2015 in the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Zerley.

WPU could not take advantage of an 11-9 edge in hits. Edwards and Chelsee Herron both finished 2-for-3, while Steele and Taylor Vernon were 2-for-4.

The losses end the careers of seniors Breanna Armiento, Ashlee Dennis, Edwards, Grove, Steele, Aylissa Tyler, Young, and Zerley.