As the winter chill begins to fade away, the anticipation for another thrilling season of Simpson’s Women’s Softball surges through the town. With gloves oiled, bats polished and cleats laced, the players are ready to step onto the diamond once again.
The softball team had their first two games of the season on Feb. 17, splitting the series 1-1 in Mankato, Minnesota.
“We feel really prepared going into the new season,” senior first baseman and team captain Karlie Hill said. “Our biggest goal is to go out and play every game to the level we are capable of.”
Hill was responsible for four runs batted in (RBIs), including a game-sealing two-run homer.
“I think there were several games last year that we beat ourselves, whether it was errors or mental mistakes,” Hill said. “We want to eliminate those as much as possible.”
Coach Brent Matthias and the Storm are coming off of a 23-17 record, the most wins since the 2016 season. “We won 23 games last year but lost eight 1-run games,” Matthias pointed out. “To improve our performance, we are making our practices more competitive.”
However, just because the practice is centered around competitiveness, that doesn’t mean the coach doesn’t know how to have some fun.
“I am putting more focus on having fun,” Matthias said. “I say ‘play ball!’ and that’s a reminder we get to play a game we love!”
After a 4-12 conference record last year, Matthias and the rest of the team are hungry for an opportunity to improve.
“Our team goal is to win the American Rivers Conference Championship. To do that, we have loaded up our non-conference season with tough competition,” Matthias said.
The Storm have 13 games this season with opponents that appeared in the national tournament playoffs. “I’m hoping this prepares us for the battles in our conference season,” Matthias said.
“The team as a whole worked a lot on our swings over the off-season,” Junior right fielder Caroline Pellett said. “We purchased blast sensors for our bat through fundraising and donations, and they’ve allowed us to track our swings and how we’re swinging the bat.”
Pellet is also one of the team leaders in batting average, slugging, and on-base percentage.
“This might be the best team chemistry we have had,” Coach Matthias said. “We use the word ‘mudita’. It means to have vicarious joy in the success of others. If you can have ‘mudita’ for your teammates, there will be a super strong bond with this team that will lead to success on the field.”
“The team voted on core values for the season which were respect, commitment, and grit,” Pellett said. “We felt these values would lead us to success, our goal is to play by these values each game and every practice.”
“They really have a ‘do what it takes to win’ mentality,” Matthias said.
Upcoming for the softball team is a week-long road trip down to Kissimmee, Florida, starting on March 9.
