Iowa Conference softball action gets started this afternoon, and two Central Iowa rivals go head-to-head when Simpson makes the short trek to Pella to take on the Dutch. The Storm were picked to finish second in the preseason coaches poll, behind only defending champion Luther, while Central was tabbed to take third. Dutch skipper George Wares knows that his team has a challenge in front of them today.

“They’re off to a very good start and it’s just the same old same old. Obviously Luther’s playing well, but when you look at the number of people back, Simpson leads the pack. So we’ll have to play very very well.”

Simpson is 21-4, while the Dutch come in at 14-8 and are ranked 20th in the latest national rankings. First pitch of the double header is at 3:00 this afternoon at the Kuyper Athletic Complex, and Trevor Castle and Andrew Schneider will call game 2 live on our KRLS2 stream at www.kniakrls.com.