Wartburg College welcomes all Waverly-area youth softball players to its Iowa Conference home doubleheader against Coe College of Cedar Rapids Saturday, April 9. First pitch is 2 p.m. at Lynes Field.
Fans unable to attend Saturday’s games can track progress by going to the Knights’ social media network by “liking” the Wartburg Athletics fan page at Facebook or joining the KnightsSid feed at Twitter. A live event blog can also be viewed by clicking on the arrow key on the upper right hand corner of the home page at Go-Knights.net.
KNIGHTS NOTES: Coach Kara Kehe’s team sports an 8-17 overall and 0-4 league record going into the weekend. They narrowly missed picking up a conference win during a pair of hard-fought losses to Simpson April 5. … In the first game, the home side put two on the board in the bottom of the first when sophomore Samantha Kuntzelman of Leaf River, Ill., pulled a two-out, bases-loaded single to right field. Wartburg continued to maintain the advantage until the Storm put together a strong rally in the top half of the fourth. Simpson pieced together a string of hits and capitalized on a pair of errors by the Knights, leading to a four-run rally en route to a 9-3 final. The nightcap included a pair of hits and runs by junior center fielder Lynn Heitkamp of Galena, Ill., and a RBI single by junior Lauren Popov of Collinsville, Ill. Popov was also strong on the mound, holding one of the league’s top-hitting squads to just one run on four hits over the first five innings. Due to that, the Orange and Black held a 2-1 lead through five, but the visitors eventually tied the game up in the sixth and crossed the plate twice in the seventh to win 5-3. … Kuntzelman’s two-RBI game in the opener put her at five multiple-RBI outings for the season, good for the team lead. … Heitkamp’s two multiple-hit contests moved her to 13 such games. Her efforts against Simpson continued a strong recent run where her batting average is up 34 points over the last six games. … Heitkamp and senior Jacie Smith of Victor continue to anchor the team’s .285 batting average. Heitkamp’s .438 squad-leading mark ranks among the top six of the conference, while Smith’s .395 is second on the team. Sophomore infielder Stacey Kayser of Jesup (.321) and junior catcher Emily Braem of Glen Ellyn, Ill., (.303) are also above .300. Smith remains the staff leader in wins (four), while Kuntzelman’s 5.25 ERA is tops, and sophomore Janelle Schneidermann of West Burlington leads the way with 14 strikeouts.
TWO LEAGUE DATES AHEAD: Wartburg faces IIAC rival Luther Wednesday, April 13, for a 3 p.m. doubleheader in Decorah and continues a brief four-game road trip with two contests at Cornell Saturday, April 16. Start time is 2 p.m. at Mount Vernon.
