Long ball lifts Storm to game two win on Senior Day

INDIANOLA, Iowa - Behind four home runs and 4.1 scoreless innings from Kylee Tucker, the Simpson College softball team came from behind to win game two against Loras, splitting the doubleheader at home on Saturday afternoon.

The Storm (20-12, 3-7 A-R-C) got a critical comeback win to stay alive in the race to qualify for the American Rivers Conference Tournament. The Duhawks (14-11, 2-4 A-R-C) also are in the mix near the Storm in attempting to qualify for postseason play.

Game One: Loras 3, Simpson 2

Game one was a pitcher's duel early, with the only real threat by either team being the Storm getting a leadoff double from Alexis Ehlers, but Simpson was unable to capitalize on it. Loras broke the game open in the top of the fourth, with Grace Houghton smacking a line drive home run to left-center field, opening the scoring and giving the Duhawks a 2-0 lead.

The Storm responded in the bottom half of the inning with Megan Heidelbauer landing a bloop single down the left field line, scoring Ashlyn Steen from third base to halve the deficit. The Duhawks also responded in the next half inning though, with a fielding error on an attempted sacrifice bunt play scoring a runner that was on second.

Rylee Purvis continued the back-and-forth, launching her second home run of the year to deep left field to pull the Storm within one again in the bottom of the fifth. However, the Storm only mustered two more baserunners over the rest of the fifth and the last two innings, as the Duhawks held on for the win. Purvis was the only Storm player to record multiple hits in the game, as both squads collected six hits.

Game Two: Simpson 10, Loras 4

Loras struck first again via the bat of Houghton, as she smashed another two-run homer in the top of the first, but the Storm responded in the bottom half of the frame with an RBI double from Zoe Baker, scoring Maddie Luderman from first.

The Duhawks loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the second, scoring on an RBI single to make the score 3-1, but Steen's great throw from center field saved another run as Luderman tagged the runner out at the plate.

Loras was adept at drawing walks during the early innings of game two and got another two-out RBI single in the top of the third, but Kylee Tucker came out of the bullpen to clean up the jam.

The Storm immediately struck back in the bottom of the third, after a Baker RBI single scored Steen, who started the inning with a leadoff double. Heidelbauer made the contest a one-run game with a sacrifice play, before Kate Kriegel launched a home run to center field, giving the Storm its first lead of the day, 5-4.

The long ball continued to power the Storm offense, with Luderman smacking a solo shot to left-center field. Luderman now has 23 home runs in her career, good for third all-time in school history. After Loras recorded an out, Heidelbauer kept the party going with her first career home run as a Storm player, giving the Storm a 7-4 advantage.

While Tucker was mowing down the Loras lineup, the Storm kept hitting. Hill led off the top of the sixth inning with a home run, the third solo shot and fourth overall home run of the game. After Caelynn Obleton reached on an error, Ehlers delivered an RBI single to make it a 9-4 game. The Storm capped off the day with one more run scored on a throwing error by the Loras catcher and Tucker completed the final innings with barely any trouble.

Ehlers and Luderman led the Storm on the day with three hits over the two games, while Heidelbauer was the RBI leader with three. The Storm smacked 12 hits in game two, committing just one error in each game. Tucker earned the win in game two, pitching 4.1 scoreless innings, only giving up three hits while walking no batters.

Up Next

The Storm travel to Decorah to take on nationally ranked Luther on Friday. The doubleheader will have critical postseason implications for the Storm, as there remains six conference games to move up in the standings.