Simpson opens season with doubleheader split

JACKSONVILLE, Ill. -- The anticipation is finally over for Simpson College softball as the team took the field for the first time in 663 days Friday afternoon against Illinois College. The Storm dropped the opener, but rebounded to win game two.

The Lady Blues (1-3) collected a 7-0 shutout in the first contest, before Simpson (1-1) rattled off 12 hits to win 10-8 for its first victory since defeating Wartburg in the opening round of the 2019 American Rivers Conference Tournament.

Senior Sara Trent collected four hits with two doubles and classmate Emily Bell tallied three hits to pace the offense.

Game One
Illinois College 7, Simpson 0
The Storm looked poised to score right away in the first inning after senior Brynna Bowman started the game with a double. Bowman moved to third with one out, but was stranded to end the frame. Bell began the second inning with a hit as well, but was left on third.

Both teams were held scoreless through four complete innings until Illinois College piled on six runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. The Lady Blues ushered six runs across the plate from four hits. The Simpson pitching staff allowed five batters to reach via walk that inning.

Illinois College added an insurance run in the sixth to widen the gap and were able to seal the victory with a one-two-three seventh inning.

Bell and Bowman each finished with two hits. Bell struckout six batters inside the circle and Taryan Barrick-Wessels made her first appearance with three strikeouts.

Game Two
Simpson 10, Illinois College 8
After a hitless first inning for the offense, the Storm scored two runs in the second off of one hit and two errors. Sophomore Taylor Stamm recorded her first career hit and RBI to drive in junior Liv Erickson, who drove in Bell after she started the inning with a leadoff walk.

Illinois College took control in the third inning to take the lead at 3-1. The momentum carried into the fourth as the Lady Blues tacked on three more runs to extend the tilt to 6-1. Erickson clubbed a double in the fifth that scored junior Caitlynne Shadle to cut the deficit in half.

In the top of the fifth, Illinois College responded with a run to place the game at 7-3 from a sacrifice fly. The Storm bats came alive in the bottom of the frame by delivering four runs on four hits as nine batters came to the plate. Shadle provided a two-run single after junior Randie Richmond and Bell tallied RBIs.

Simpson's next at-bat went nearly the same by scoring three runs. Senior Megan Crockett grabbed her first RBI of the season, while Shadle and Richmond drove in a runner each to help the cause.

The Lady Blues had a late rally in the top of the seventh by scoring a run, but senior Carlyn Stanley stranded two runners to clinch the victory.

Trent ended with three hits, and Crockett, Richmond and Shadle each clubbed two to lead the offense. Richmond allowed two hits in two innings of work to tally her fifth-career win and Stanley earned a save in her first appearance for Simpson.

Up Next
Action resumes tomorrow morning with an 11 a.m. game against DePauw. Simpson ends the day against Fontbonne at 1 p.m. in Jacksonville, Illinois.