Storm begin IIAC Tournament on Saturday, await Buena Vista/Wartburg winner

The Simpson softball team begins the 2016 Iowa Conference Tournament on Saturday, May 7 in Decorah, Iowa. The No. 2 seed Storm will play the winner of No. 3 seed Buena Vista and No. 6 seed Wartburg, which play at 4:30 p.m. Friday.

All Simpson games will be streamed online at KNIAKRLS.com (link below). Veteran broadcaster Rick Wilson will have the call with Todd Guessford providing the commentary. The Iowa Conference will provide video streaming of all games (link below) with Darin Svenson, the Voice of the Norse, providing commentary.

Game Setup
Matchup: Simpson (29-8) vs. Buena Vista (20-15) or Wartburg (17-23)
Date: Saturday, May 7
Time: 1:30 p.m.
Location: Luther Softball Diamond - Decorah, Iowa

Live Coverage
Audio: KNIA/KRLS (Rick Wilson, Todd Guessford)
Video: IowaConference.com (Darin Svenson) 

Links
Tournament Homepage: Luther.edu
Tournament Preview: IowaConference.com

IIAC Tournament History
The IIAC began sponsoring a conference softball tournament in 2006, when it was held at a netural site - Rogers Sports Complex in Fort Dodge - for two seasons before moving to the campus of the No. 1 seed in 2008. The tournament was played in a double-elimination format from 2006-14 before adopting the current single-elimination format in 2015.

Simpson is 11-18 all-time in the IIAC Tournament, qualifying each season since it began in 2006. Simpson has been the No. 2 seed just one other time, in 2008 when the Storm were eliminated in two games. The third-seeded Storm lost to sixth-seeded Dubuque 7-3 in the first round of the 2015 tournament. Simpson is 2-0 against Buena Vista in the IIAC Tournament and 0-2 against the Knights.

The Storm
Simpson closed the regular season 29-8 overall and 8-4 in the Iowa Conference after the final series of the season - against top-seeded Luther - was rained out. The hard-hitting Storm have hit a conference-best 35 home runs, led by first baseman Rachel Guessford's 11. Riley Fisher (14-1, 2.26 ERA) and Abbie VanVleet (13-4, 2.54 ERA) anchor a strong pitching staff that goes three-deep. Fisher is also the team's top hitter, leading the team with a .433 average in league play.