Leo sends Storm to A-R-C semifinal

PELLA, Iowa -- Camrey Leo smoked a two out, two-run homer in the seventh inning to extend Simpson softball's season on Friday as the Storm won 7-6 over Wartburg to advance in the American Rivers Conference Tournament.

Playing as the No. 6 team in the tournament, Simpson (21-18) was down by two going into the final two innings of play to the three-seeded Knights (26-11).

Megan Crockett continued her hot pace as of late and drilled in a double in the sixth to score Arianna Kim to cut the deficit in half. In the final frame, Brynna Bowman started the rally with one out and drilled the ball for a double. Amron Born pinch ran for her teammate and was able to move to third on a passed ball, but was able to cruise home when Leo sent the ball sailing over the fence for her third homer of the year.

The Storm came out of the gate ready to play and put two runs on the scoreboard in the first inning. Kim led off with a walk and Kayla Reusche and Crockett had back-to-back with singles. Kim and Reusche were then able to score on a batted ball from Emily Bell, which caused a Wartburg error.

The Knights responded with three in the bottom of the half to regain the lead and tallied a run in both the second and third innings to make it 5-2 going into the fourth.

In the top of the fourth, Simpson rattled off four hits in the frame to score a pair to make it 5-4, but Wartburg added another in the bottom part to extend the tilt back to two.

As a unit, the Storm out-hit their counterparts 15-9 at the plate and now have hit a home run in the last 9 of 10 contests.

Emily Bell started inside the circle and went 5.0 innings of work. She allowed six runs, which two were earned and had five strikeouts. Randi Richmond got the win and is now 5-1 during her freshman season. She tallied two innings of work and allowed no hits and no runs.

Simpson moves to 3-4 all-time against the three seed and 2-2 against Wartburg in the conference tournament.

Up Next
The Storm advance to the conference semifinals to take on two-seeded Coe at 1:30 p.m. in Pella. No. 5 Dubuque takes on No. 1 Central at 11 a.m.