The Lady Statesmen (40-16, 26-4 MCC), who won 9-3 and 4-0, extended their season-high winning streak to nine games, all during the past week.

The Lady Statesmen will enter the MCC Tournament next Wednesday-Friday in Iowa City as the #1 seed and will receive a three-game bye before their first competition. Penn will not have to play until Thursday at 4 p.m. and needs just two wins to claim the tournament title and an automatic berth to the NAIA Softball National Championship.

With a couple more wins Sunday to add to their resume, the Lady Statesmen were attempting to build a back-up plan by hopefully moving their ranking inside the top 20 to have a potential chance at an at-large bid to nationals.

The back-up plan took a bit to unfold in the early going as Penn and Clarke were tied 3-3 after three frames of the opener.

Leah Mork (Jr., DeWitt, North Iowa Area CC) scored the first Lady Statesmen run when Tyanna Helton (Jr., Santa Rosa, Calif., Palomar CC) doubled her home in the first. Krystle Carr (Sr., Acton, Calif., Paraclete HS) then singled in Helton to make it 2-1 after one inning.

Penn scored again in the second on a Mork single that tallied Hailey Dreyer (Jr., Twin Lakes, Wis., Dubuque).

The Crusaders (16-26, 12-17 MCC) knotted the game at 3-3 in the top of the third, but the hosts took control in the late innings with three runs in both the fifth and sixth innings.

In the fifth, Kara Atkins (Fr., Burlington, Burlington HS) doubled home Ashley Stream (Fr., Chariton, Chariton HS) and Ashley Johnson (Sr., Burlington, Southeastern CC) brought home Helton and pinchrunner Katie Bunting (So., What Cheer, Wartburg).

The scoring concluded in the sixth when Mork singled to score pinchrunner Stacie Gaskill (Sr., Lake Mills, Lake Mills HS), Helton singled home Stream, and Johnson brought home Mork.

Mork led Penn with a perfect 3-3 performance as Penn outhit Clarke 11-3 in the first contest. Helton was 2-3, while Johnson was 2-4.

Johnson led all players with three RBIs, while Mork and Helton each posted two RBIs. Stream, Mork, and Helton all scored twice in the victory.

Allysa Fligg (Sr., Agency, Nebraska-Omaha) earned the win to improve to 16-6 on the season. The senior allowed three runs (two earned) on three hits. She struck out three with one walk.

Penn dominated the nightcap with a 12-2 edge in hits, but runs came at a higher premium.

The Lady Statesmen finally broke the scoreless tie in the fourth when Carr singled in Helton to make it 1-0.

The host squad tacked on three more insurance runs in the fifth frame as Atkins singled home both Stream and Mork, while Carr again singled in Helton to extend the lead to 4-0.

Helton paced Penn by going 3-4, while Atkins and Carr were both 2-3. Stream finished 2-4 in the matchup as well. Atkins and Carr both recorded two RBIs, while Helton scored a game-high two runs.

Johnson was just shy of picking up her third no-hitter of the season, but she still notched her seventh solo shutout. The senior, who is now 13-5, allowed just two hits and struck out seven with no walks.