The new rankings came out on Thursday afternoon, and amongst the team in the top 15 in 4A and 2A both Storm Lake and Sioux Central resided. The ranked match-up saw 4A #15 Storm Lake down 2A #12 Sioux Central 8-2
The Tornadoes struck early and often to start the game. The Tornadoes opened both of the first two frames by seeing the first three batters in each inning collect hits. The first saw clutch RBIs from Josie Hernandez (RBI double) and a groundout RBI from Haliey Anderson. The Tornadoes would also capitalize on a wild pitch to lead 3-0 after the first. The second saw the Tornadoes first four batters hit including an Avery DeHaan RBI single, which gave the Tornadoes a 4-0 lead going to the bottom of the second. The Rebels would have an answer in the bottom of the second with some small ball as both Morgan Christian and Preslie Peterson had singles, and eventually, Halle Laursen connected on a Sac Fly to cut the Storm Lake lead to 4-1 after two. The teams would trade runs in the middle frames to make the score 5-2 going into the seventh. At the top of the seventh, the Tornadoes would find some insurance runs. Keyed in the inning by a Taylor Ripke two-run double, the Tornadoes held an 8-2 lead going to the bottom of the seventh. In the bottom of the seventh, the Rebels would strand two base runners. Storm Lake would go on to win 8-2 over Sioux Central
The win moves Storm Lake to 14-1, and the loss drops Sioux Central to 13-5. Up next: Storm Lake is at home Friday night to play Spencer (Baseball Play-By-Play will be broadcast on KKIA), and for the Rebel softball team the travel to play Pocahontas Area Friday Night a game that will be broadcast on KAYL
The Player of the Game was Storm Lake’s Maddy Raveling: at the plate 2/2 with two singles, 3 runs scored and three walks, in relief in the circle went 4 innings, 5 strikeouts, 4 hits, and 0 runs allowed
Hear comments below from Storm Lake Head Coach Jenna Lullmann (2:38) and Sioux Central Head Coach Kasey Krager (4:53)