Witzany reaches 1,000 career strikeouts

DES MOINES, Iowa - With a resume like Jayna Witzany's, it's hard to top accomplishments already achieved, but she reached a new height Thursday afternoon. She eclipsed 1,000 career strikeouts in the 3-1 win over Grand View in game one of a Heart of America Athletic Conference doubleheader. Mount Mercy dropped game two to the Vikings 3-0 at Richard O. Jacobson Field.

Witzany becomes one of only eight pitchers in the history of NAIA to hit this milestone and the third in the Heart of America Athletic Conference since it expanded in 2016-17. Olivia Brees (Baker, Kan. 2016-19) recorded 1,302 in her career and Claudia Farrell (Grand View, 2015-18) finished with 1,059. Witzany is at 1,002 with one regular season game to go plus the postseason. She achieved this feat in 128 appearances in which she has racked up 80 wins, another Mount Mercy record amongst many more. In this season alone, Witzany is 17-6 with an earned run average of 0.80, which is fourth best in the country. Her 253 strikeouts this year are second in the NAIA as well. 

After giving up a hit in the first inning, Witzany settled in and didn't allow another hit until the sixth inning. Natalie Tecklenburg singled to lead off the third inning. Two batters later, Sam Lee went deep to break a 1-1 tie, giving Mount Mercy the lead and more than enough insurance runs for Witzany. She totaled 10 strikeouts on the day to go along with her two-hit performance. Tecklenburg was perfect at the plate, finishing 2-for-2 with a walk and two runs scored. Calli Janik added two hits and Lee drove in two. 

Grand View (29-15, 15-9 Heart) struck first in the second game, scoring two in the first inning. The Mustangs had runners in scoring position in three innings, including the bases loaded in the seventh. Mount Mercy couldn't come through with timely hits or capitalize on the Viking's three errors, dropping the nightcap 3-0. Makenna Moenk accounted for three of the Mustang hits, Janik and Rylee Goodfellow collected the other two. 

With one regular season Heart doubleheader remaining, Mount Mercy sits in third place of the conference with an overall record of 27-16, 16-8 in the Heart. The Mustangs will look to hold onto that spot as they host Graceland (19-23, 5-17 Heart) on Saturday for Senior Day. The doubleheader begins at 1:00 pm at Busse Field.