Simpson softball closes opening weekend
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Simpson | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 11 | 3 |
|
Illinois Col. | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 10 | 3 |
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Concordia Chicago | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 15 | 19 | 4 |
|
Simpson | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 16 | 5 |
JACKSONVILLE, Ill. -- The Simpson College softball team ended its opening weekend on Sunday by dropping two contests. The Storm lost 8-7 to Illinois College in the opener and fell 15-12 to Concordia-Chicago in nine innings.
Simpson (2-4) returns to action on March 20 to start American Rivers Conference play against Buena Vista. The Storm will take on the Beavers in two games and finish the series with a contest March 21 at the Simpson Softball Complex.
Game One
Illinois College 8, Simpson 7
The Lady Blues struck first with a run in the bottom of the second after the Storm failed to score in the top half after clubbing three hits.
Simpson pushed two runs across in the top of the second after a leadoff double from Camrey Leo. Brynna Bowman drove in Leo and Georgia Porter later scored in the frame on a wild pitch.
After a quiet bottom of the second and top of the third innings by both teams, Illinois College added two runs in the bottom of the third to grab a 3-2 lead. The Storm offense erupted for five runs in the fourth with the aid of a two-run single from Sara Trent. Simpson ended with four hits in the frame as nine batters came to the plate to capture the lead.
A 7-3 advantage trickled away for the Storm over the last two innings when the Lady Blues pushed two runs across in the sixth and three in the seventh for the walk-off.
Trent finished with three hits and the team ended with 11, compared to Illinois College's 10 base knocks.
Game Two (nine innings)
Concordia-Chicago 15, Simpson 12
Simpson rattled off 16 hits, while Concordia-Chicago erupted for 19 to come from behind and win.
The Storm garnered a quick 7-1 lead after the second inning after tallying seven hits, but left five runners on base during that span.
The Cougars collected an 8-7 advantage after the top of the fifth before Simpson poured on three more runs to gather an edge. Concordia-Chicago scored four more in the seventh to take a lead. In the bottom of the seventh, the Storm rallied to score two runs to tie the game at 12-12. Megan Crockett provided a sacrifice fly and Randie Richmond drove a single to left field.
Both teams were scoreless through the eighth before the visitors tacked on three runs in the top of the ninth.
Trent ended with three hits and Crockett had two including a home run with five RBIs to lead the offense.
