Simpson softball is taking the field with scrimmages and practices in early preparation for the spring season. 

While fall is not typically the time most people are thinking about softball, the Simpson softball team is working hard to prepare for the upcoming 2022 season. As a Division III team, they are allowed 16 dates to practice or scrimmage before the coaches must take a hands-off approach until the spring. The players can still workout and work on skills on their own throughout the winter. 

Senior Randie Richmond is excited about how the team is shaping up.

“I think that we still have a lot of work to do in the offseason and we can’t neglect, just like, the little things that we have to sharpen up. I think it’s always a working process,” Richmond said.

There have been a few bumps in the road; the team lost seniors which will make for a very different starting line-up this year.

“We’re just rebuilding our team chemistry because we lost a lot of starters last year,” Richmond said.  

Due to the large number of players that graduated in the spring, Head Coach Brent Matthias is working with a large number of first-year students.

“We have a very large freshman class,” Matthias said. “So, we brought in a lot of people and mixing everybody together and seeing where the pieces of the puzzle all fit together has been tough, but we have a great foundation.”

Matthias said he credits strong student leadership on the team for creating an environment that players want to be in.

“There’s a saying that sports are usually as good as your senior leadership,” Matthias said. “And if that’s the case, I’m really excited because we have seven seniors that are super leaders in their own ways.”

Matthias credits the senior class with dedicating a lot of effort towards making new teammates feel welcomed.

“The senior leadership has done a great job with creating our softball family this fall already,” Matthias said. 

The team centers around each other and aims to not only grow on the field but to become better people overall and both players and coaches hope this will lead to a strong spring season.

“We’ve got the dedication, inspiring a group of young people that don’t want to fail, that want to win,” Matthias said. “We’re doing the hard work. We think we’ve got talent. We think we’ve got a culture, and all those things hopefully will equal a conference championship.” 

Players like Richmond said they have noticed a huge difference in coaching style.

“He really focuses on how we come out of the program as humans, like the type of people we are in daily life.  Treat people with kindness, support everyone that we’re around or working with and always take care of the little things to be a great person on and off the field,” Richmond said.

Shifting the focus from individuals to the team has inspired more communication between players.

“The biggest difference that we’re going to see in the spring is I feel like everybody’s going to know each other a lot better and be more comfortable with each other on the field, so that is a very good aspect,” Richmond said.