An historic season for Mackenzie James and the Simpson College softball team came to an end on Sunday.
James, a former Ankeny Centennial standout, went 1-for-4 at the plate as the Storm fell to Redlands, 6-3, in the Women’s College World Series semifinals at Salem, Va. She hit a two-out single in the third inning and scored her team’s first run on a double by Katie Shaner to cut the deficit to 5-1.
Shaner hit a solo homer in the fifth to make it 5-3, but Redlands scored an insurance run in the bottom of the inning and then held on for the win. Simpson finished with a 41-8 record, its most victories since 2000.
“Our team likes to have a lot of fun and stay loose rather than getting tight and taking things so seriously,” James said. “From the beginning of the season, I knew this team was something special. The culture and the fight this team has will always be memorable to me.”
James, a junior outfielder, played a huge role in the team’s success. She batted .317 with three home runs, 17 doubles and 39 RBIs.
Simpson won the American Rivers Conference tournament for the first time in program history. The Storm won the Indianola Regional before advancing to the Winona Super Regional where Simpson knocked off Saint Mary’s in two games to punch its ticket to the Women’s College World Series.
“I think the key to our success this year was the culture of the team,” James said. “Our team’s culture is a lot different from other teams, and we play for each other rather than caring about individual success. Our team has a saying called ‘Mudita’ which is the vicarious joy in the success of others, and I think that took our team a long way.”
During the six-day trip in Salem, Simpson opened with a 4-3 comeback win over Mount Union and a dramatic 7-6 extra inning walk-off over Linfield to advance to the semifinals. It marked the longest postseason run in Storm history since the 1999 national championship team.
“We never counted ourselves out,” James said. “We went into every game expecting to win.”