Simpson Eliminates Chapman in Softball

After being upset by UC San Diego, 11-3, in the first round of the West Regional Tournament, the Chapman softball team was eliminated with a 1-0 loss to top-ranked Simpson (Iowa) College in the second round Friday at UC San Diego.

The second-seeded Panthers (34-9), which had never lost a regional tournament game since it began competing in NCAA Division III in 1995, were limited to two hits by Storm pitcher Kelly Schade (18-3) and only threatened to score once, when they loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth inning. Schade, however, induced Laurel Bailey to fly out to left field, ending the threat.

“When you get only two hits, you’re not going to win,” co-Coach Janet Lloyd said.

Jessamine Maiben (12-4) limited the Storm (33-7) to five hits, but ran into trouble in the fifth inning when Kim Griffin and Jenny White hit consecutive singles and Michelle Fowler followed with a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Griffin with the game’s only run.

In the first-round game, third-seeded UC San Diego (24-19), which the Panthers had beaten four times this year, tagged Chapman starter Brittany Carlson (18-3) for five runs in the fifth inning and added three more runs off reliever Katie Smithson in the seventh inning.

The Panthers scored an unearned run in the second and third innings, and added a run in the bottom of the seventh inning on Stephanie Carew’s nation-leading 15th home run. But it was too little, too late.

“We totally overlooked [UC San Diego],” senior Lisa Simpson said. “They had nothing to lose and they took advantage of whatever we weren’t doing. We had been focusing on coming to regionals and knocking [Simpson] out.”