Morningside begins 2021 GPAC campaign on high note

SIOUX CITY, IOWA – Junior outfielder Ellie Cropley (JR/Sioux City, IA)'s (Sioux City, Iowa) great afternoon at the plate was among many headlines for Morningside College's No. 16-ranked National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics' team Sunday, March 28.

Taking their home diamond at the Jensen Family Softball Complex for the first time in two seasons, head coach Jessica Jones-Sitzmann's Mustangs settled in quickly. They pushed across six runs over the first two innings of game one and were off the races as part of a 7-1, 8-2 Great Plains Athletic Conference sweep of Dakota Wesleyan University.

Cropley finished four-for-six, six runs scored, two doubles, one home run, and two RBI. Junior catcher Mykel Gray (JR/Ames, IA) (Ames, Iowa) added three hits in four at-bats with two runs scored in the nightcap; senior outfielder Carson Cameron (SR/Herman, NE) (Herman, Neb.) went three-for-six with two doubles and an RBI across the doubleheader; and sophomore outfielder Vanessa Bohulsvalsky (David City, Neb.) was also three-for-six and doubled once. Those offensive accolades enabled the sophomore starting pitcher duo of Katherine Wurtz (JR/Omaha, NE) (Omaha, Neb.) and Lisa Bolton (SO/American Canyon, CA) (American Canyon, Calif.) to fire strikes at the Tigers' line-up.

Wurtz didn't surrender an earned run and was touched for only two hits and struck out three over five frames in game one. Bolton struck out two over the same number of innings in game two. Both picked up decisions in the circle.

Morningside begins four in a row on the road Tuesday, March 30. They travel to Plum Creek Park in Seward, Neb., for a 5 p.m. twin bill.