The Simpson College baseball team earned another conference victory against Luther College after a two-day, three-game series. Senior Trey Castile earned his 300th strikeout of his career in the top of the fifth inning during the first game of the doubleheader.
In the first game against Luther, Simpson won 2-1. Castile achieved his 300th strikeout record with a total of 5 strikeouts in the game.
Castile talked about being the first to reach this achievement at Simpson but prefers to keep things more about the team than himself.
“It’s pretty cool; it’s definitely a great honor to have the opportunity to do that for the first time,” Castile said. “It’s pretty cool, but I try not to think of it too much and try to get my head too big because then it becomes more about yourself rather than being about the team.”
The second game of the conference ended with a 13-1 loss for Simpson after Luther gained momentum back at the bottom of the second inning with one run and scored more runs in the bottom of the third, fourth and fifth innings.
The Storm bounced back the next day on their last game of the conference to give it their all and earned their first conference win of the season, scoring 15-1.
Junior Sam Campin and Senior Eli Feekin held a close connection to the doubleheader game in the conference against Luther. Campin batted in both games, and Feekin’s innings pitched in the second game was 3.0.
“Game one was really close. We ended up winning 2-1, but it took a lot of toughness and grit from us to pull that one off, and I think that really set the tone for the series that we can play with them and play tough,” Campin said. “So, the second game wasn’t really how we wanted to go, but it’s always a great opportunity to bounce back the next day, and we did in a big way, and that was really encouraging to see.”
Feekin and Campin believe a good team culture helps them play well and supports them when times get rough. The team is focused on building toughness and resilience with each other to help them get through tough times when they need it the most.
“One thing that we’ve talked a lot about this year is being tough, and like Sam said, that second game was a really good opportunity to bounce back from them,” Feekin said. “Just like the way we played in the third game, where the winner takes all. So, it was really good to see everybody competing.”
On the field, mental instability is an obstacle for many players. Castile said maintaining strong mental resilience is important when playing and carrying through the game after practicing rightfully, even when the going gets tough.
“So just knowing that you’re going to fail a lot in the game and just being able to come in with the same approach each and every time and sticking to who you are is the biggest thing,” Castile said. “When you’re set up to fail, it’s really hard to keep that mentality of, ‘OK, I’m doing the right stuff and doing the right stuff,’ where you’re not seeing results, per se, that you want to but you got to be able to push that off and know that you’re doing the right things each and every day.”
The conference continues as the baseball team’s next game will be at Loras College. Then, a home game on April 15 against Nebraska Wesleyan University.
Campin ended by saying he and the rest of the team are excited to keep playing the rest of the conference season and give their all to their games one pitch at a time.
“I think that going forward, we’re looking at just taking that toughness into every game from the start,” Campin said. “Having to have less bounceback games because we win more, I think, is definitely a goal. So just like being able to go right away and take it to them from the first pitch.”
