MINNEAPOLIS --- Crown College Softball swept the North Central Rams on Saturday, winning the first game by four runs 12-8 and dominating the second contest 20-0. Senior third baseman Zoe Roberts was the dominant offensive force throughout the two games, with six hits, nine RBIs, a home run, two triples, and a double to drive the Storm from the leadoff spot. In the second contest, sophomore pitcher Ashley Earick threw her first collegiate shutout to lead the Storm's defensive performance.
The first game was only a four-run margin, but after the Storm came back from a 4-0 initial deficit, they never gave back the lead on their way to their third conference victory. The Storm scoring started in the second inning when Roberts hit a three-run triple to score Katelyn Walls, Morgan Lawrence, and Lindsay Glover. Laryssa Vik followed that with her first home run of the season, her first time hitting the ball out of the park since 2018. Then savvy base running from Raquel Gonzalez and Kuulei Ili led to both of them scoring, extending the lead to 7-4.
In the third inning, Ili hit her second home run of the season, scoring Vik and herself. North Central went on a streak from there, coming all the way back to 9-7. However, the Storm scoring responded as Gonzalez stole home, Roberts tripled (again) to score Glover and ended the contest up 12-8 over their crosstown rival.
Picking up the win for the Storm was first-year pitcher Savannah Ellis, her second of the season. Ellis went the first two innings of the contest, striking out four. Abbie Carroll relieved Ellis, pitching the remaining five innings.
In the second contest, Gonzalez started the Storm scoring performance with a two-RBI single in the first. Then Zeta Brown hit a single to score Gonzalez and then scored on an error, putting the Storm up 4-0. In the second inning, Roberts homered, scoring Walls and Lawrence. Then Brown tripled to score Ili, and an error by the Rams' first baseman scored Glover and Ellis. Batting again in the inning, Roberts doubled to score Lawrence for her fourth RBI in the three-out frame. To close out the inning, Vik doubled to score Roberts and Walls, putting the Storm up 14-0 in the middle of the second.
In the third inning, Carroll doubled to score Gonzalez for one run. In the remainder of the contest, the Storm hit four RBI singles from the bats of Brown, Carroll, and Roberts to lead the Storm to a 20-0 defeat of NCU. Earick was on the mound and pitched well without allowing a run, striking out three in five innings of work.
The Storm conclude their conference season and will have one remaining doubleheader, a non-conference matchup with Carleton Knights at home in St. Bonifacius.
