LINCOLN, Neb. – Simpson pitchers held Nebraska Wesleyan scoreless for 13 straight innings as the Storm came into Lincoln and swept a pair of games over the Prairie Wolves on Tuesday afternoon (April 16) in American Rivers Conference softball action.  Simpson won game one 2-0 in extra innings, then took the second game 8-2 to complete the sweep.
 
NWU (21-9, 6-4) had a chance to move into 2^nd place in the American Rivers standings, but instead dropped into a tie for fourth with three doubleheaders remaining including this weekend's big series against league leader and No. 17 ranked Luther College.  Simpson climbs to 4-6 in league play to move up to 6^th and keep their postseason hopes alive.
 
Neither team was able to score a run in the first seven innings of the opener forcing the game to head to extra innings.  In the top of the 8^th inning, Simpson led off the inning with a double, then the runner advanced to third on a sacrifice.  Madi Bennett put down a perfect squeeze bunt in front of the plate and the throw home was late to give the Storm a 1-0 lead.  They added another run in the inning on a single.  NWU was able to stop the bleeding getting a flyout, that turned into a double play as the runner left early trying to score from third base.
 
The Prairie Wolves threatened in the bottom of the 8^th inning as Morgan Shipley led off with a single.  A one-out walk to Danelle Snyder put runners on first and second.  Simpson got a popout for the second out of the inning bringing up Payton Swanson.  Swanson hit a slow roller to shortstop and the play at second was not in time to load the bases with the tying run on second.  Unfortunately the threat and game ended with a strikeout.
 
Emily Bell was very solid on the mound for Simpson throwing the complete game shutout.  She allowed only three hits in eight innings of work.  Kailey Meyer took the loss for NWU allowing two runs and four hits in eight innings.
 
Game two was more of the same for the Prairie Wolves as they were held scoreless the first six innings.  They did score two runs in the bottom of the 7^th, but were in an 8-0 deficit that was too big to overcome.
 
Simpson hit a solo HR in the top of the 4^th for the first run of the game.  They exploded for five runs on five hits in the 5^th inning to put the game out of reach.  Megan Crockett was the big Prairie Wolves killer for Simpson as she went 4-4 with a double, HR and four RBI. 
 
Emily Schilke got just her second pitching victory of the season throwing seven innings allowing two runs on eight hits.  Grace Sommer took the loss for NWU pitching 5 1/3 innings giving up eight hits and five earned runs.
 
The only bright spot on the day for Nebraska Wesleyan was Morgan Shipley extending her hitting streak to 16 games.  She got a hit in the last at-bat of both games.