Simpson University, which won the Cal Pac/Frontier qualifier after finishing second in the conference, went on to finish second in the NCCAA national championships before moving on to the league's best showing in years, tying for first in its pool at the NAIA national tournament.
NCCAA
Ten days after completing the Unaffiliated Tournament, Simpson received notification that they were selected as the second seed in the NCCAA Softball National Championships in Troutville, Virginia. The Red Hawks finished fourth in last season's NCCAA National Championships and were looking to win their first national championship in softball.
Simpson won its first two games over Judson University of Illinois and Campbellsville University of Kentucky. In their third game of the tournament, the Red Hawks took on North Greenville University of South Carolina, falling 2-1, forcing the Red Hawks to play at least three games on Saturday to win the championship.
Their first opponent was Central Baptist College of Arkansas, the #1 seed in the tournament. The Red Hawks beat the Mustangs 2-0 to advance to another match-up versus North Greenville. In Simpson's second game of the day, the Red Hawks beat North Greenville by a 9-0 tally forcing a winner-take-all game for the championship. In the final game, however, the Crusaders scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the 7th inning to win the game, and the championship, 2-1. Simpson University finished with its highest finish in the softball program's history at the NCCAA National Championship.
NAIA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPSA mere five days after completing the NCCAAS, the Red Hawks were on the road again, this time to the NAIA Softball National Championships in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The
Red Hawks finished their time at the NAIA National Championships with a
2-1 record in pool play, which is the best mark in pool play at the
NAIA National Championship of any California Pacific Conference softball
representative to the national championships.
The Red Hawks were in Pool G along with NAIA #7 Lubbock Christian University, NAIA #13 Reinhardt University and the defending NAIA national champions Simon Fraser University. On Thursday, the Red Hawks took on Lubbock Christian. The Chaparrals got out ahead early with five runs in the bottom of the first inning and won the game 14-6. On Friday, Simpson took on Reinhardt. The Red Hawks beat the Eagles 2-1, behind ten strikeouts from Whitney McCain. In the third game of the tournament, Simpson took on defending NAIA national champion Simon Fraser. The Red Hawks won on a walk-off single to shallow left center for a 3-2 win. .jpg)
