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COACHING STAFF

Kelsey AikeyKelsey Aikey
Assistant Coach

A former Division I pitcher, Kelsey Aikey was named a full-time assistant coach for the Simpson softball team in August 2024.

Aikey comes to Simpson after spending the last two seasons on the staff at Division I University of Missouri-Kansas City as the pitching coach. Aikey helped increase UMKC's victories in 2023 from nine to 23 in 2024. The pitching staff dropped their team ERA from 8.18 in 2023 to 3.88 in 2024, and featured eight Summit All-League selections.

Prior to UMKC, Aikey coached one season at Division II Upper Iowa and three years at Cedar Falls High School.

Aikey played collegiate softball at Western Kentucky from 2017-21, where she was a two-time second team all-conference selection and a six-time Conference USA Pitcher of the Week. When she left the Hilltoppers, Aikey held the school record in saves (17), ranked second in career strikeouts (554), and pitched the first extra-inning no-hitter in program history.

Aikey graduated from Western Kentucky in 2020 with a degree in health science before earning a master's of recreation and sports administration in 2022 from the same institution. During her playing time, Aikey was selected to the Conference USA Commissioner's Honor Roll as well as Dean's and President's Lists.

A native of Cedar Falls, Iowa, Aikey played three years at Cedar Falls High School before transferring to Waverly-Shell Rock for her final season.

Kyle Owens
Assistant Coach

Kyle Owens is in his 20th season on the coaching staff at Simpson in 2023. Owens has been an assistant for 18 seasons and served as the interim head coach in 2016. That year, he led Simpson to a 31-11 mark and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament, guiding the Storm to a second-place finish in the Iowa Conference. He moved back into an assistant coaching role with the hiring of Brent Matthias in 2017.

Since joining the staff in 2004, Owens has helped the Storm to five NCAA Tournament appearances and an Iowa Conference title in 2010.

Owens is a long-time travel coach in Central Iowa. Owens-coached teams have won six Iowa State Championships at various age levels - U-10, U-12, U-16, U-18, including a U-16 ASA Northern National Championship in 2005. He's served on the board of the South Des Moines Girls Softball Association and was a founding board member of the Mid Iowa Girls Softball Association (MIGS).

A 1981 Simpson graduate, Owens was a letterwinner on the football team during his career. He and his wife, Pam Feldman Owens '83, have four daughters: Emily, Carlye '09, Annie and Jaycie. Jaycie is a freshman at Simpson in 2015-16.

Owens graduated from Simpson with degrees in economics and business administration. He has served as the Vice President of Investments at Raymond James & Associates for the last 18 years. In 2013, he earned Simpson's Dick Buxton Award for community members who willingly give his or her time and effort in support of athletics at Simpson College.

Ron Reusche
Assistant Coach

Ron Reusche joins Brent Matthias in the dugout for his fourth season as an assistant coach in 2022-23 for the Simpson softball team.

Reusche and Matthias were a duo at Waverly-Shell Rock High School for two seasons when Matthias was the head softball coach. During that two year span, the team had a combined record of 68-15, won two conference titles and advanced to the state tournament in 2015.

A 1979 graduate of the University of Northern Iowa, he began teaching and coaching at West Central of Maynard that same year. He was the head softball coach for five years and won two sectional titles. In 1991, the team led the state in stolen bases with 252.

In 1991, Reusche graduated from Drake University with a master's degree in education administration and became a middle school principal and athletic director for the Nashua-Plainfield School District. He was a finalist for Iowa Middle Level Principal of the Year in 1995 and a finalist for the Iowa Middle School Athletic Driector of the Year in 2001 and 2007. Reusche retired from public eduation in 2011.

Reusche currently resides in Waverly, Iowa with his wife, Cheryl. He has three children, Megan, Derek and Kayla. Kayla was a three-year letterwinner for the Storm softball team and graduated in 2019 as a CoSIDA Academic All-District selection.

Addy Pender
Assistant Coach

Addy Pender begins her fourth season as an assistant softball coach in 2023 on head coach Brent Matthias' staff.

Pender brings plenty of experience to Simpson after earning four letters at fellow American Rivers Conference institution, Luther College. Pender is a two-time all-region catcher for the Norse and earned All-A-R-C honors at the end of the 2019 campaign after hitting .290 with 29 hits and 16 RBIs. During her junior season, Pender was tabbed to the NCAA Division III All-Region squad following the team's success. That same season, Luther tallied a third-place finish at the NCAA Division III National Championships for its best placing in program history.

At the end of her career in a Norse uniform, Pender was tied for second in fielding percentage at .992 and sixth in career putouts with 815 in the Luther record books.

Pender graduated in 2019 from Luther with a degree in physical education and health education.

Carlye Satterwhite
Assistant Coach

Ellee Mortensen
Student Assistant

 

 

 

High School

  • A 2022 graduate of Ballard High School
  • AP Scholar with Honor
  • Recipient of Dean's Award for High Scholastic Achievement
  • Academic letterwinner
  • Recipient of Student Leadership Award and English Department Award
  • Member of National Honor Society
  • Class officer
  • Student Council Executive Team Member

Personal

  • Parents are Dan and Keri Mortensen
  • Has two siblings, Maggie and Dane
  • Originally from Cambridge, Iowa
  • Majoring in data science and computer science