3/9/2026 Indianola and Pella, IA – The Westminster women's softball team traveled to Iowa to play four games: two against Simpson College on Saturday and two against Central College on Sunday.
Game 1 L:0-14 vs Simpson
The Jays' first game in Iowa went poorly. The pitching struggled, and the offense failed to get anything going. Senior pitcher Duddenhoffer could only manage 2.2 innings while giving up eight earned runs and 14 total runs. Her defense did not give much help, making two costly errors with two outs that allowed six additional unearned runs to score. The pitching and defense weren't given any cushion from the offense either. The bats failed to record a single hit and would lose 0-14.
Game 2 L:2-3 vs Simpson
The Blue Jays, looking to bounce back from a rough first game of the doubleheader, showed much more fight this time around. Simpson would score right away in the first inning, but Madison Plybon would settle in and only give up two more runs the entire game, pitching into the ninth. Once again, the offense struggled, but this time around, they provided enough fight to keep the Blue Jays in the game. A fourth-inning
Carlie Regier double gave the Jays a 2–1 lead. The lead only lasted an inning, though, as Simpson would tie things up in the fifth. The tie would hold into extras, and Plybon would pitch through every out. She went 8.1 innings before giving up the game-winning run in the ninth on a single. The Jays would lose this 2-3 in a hard-fought, extra-inning battle.
Game 3 L: 4-6 vs Central
On Sunday, the Blue Jays played two against Central College. Peityn Thomas started the first game of the doubleheader on the mound. The sophomore quickly was in trouble, giving up three runs in the first off a two-run double and a sac fly. She would find her footing, giving up only one run in the next four innings. The offense once again struggled. They only managed one run in the first five innings of the game, courtesy of a
Carlie Regier groundout. The Blue Jays started to show fight in the late innings. They put up two runs in the sixth, a
Taylor Engelmeyer single and a
Carlie Regier double brought the Jays within one. Unfortunately, the Big Red offense had an answer of its own and scored two runs in the bottom half of the frame against the then-cruising
Peityn Thomas. These two runs proved pivotal, as Westminster could only manage one run at the top of the seventh and would lose this one 4-6.
Game 4 W: 4-2 vs Central
Still looking for their first win of the season, the Jays went into the weekend finale with a fight. Madison Plybon took the mound for the Jays and went all seven innings, giving up only two. With her strong outing, it was up to the offense to capitalize on their best chance to get a win yet. Down two in the fourth, the Jays strung together two hits and were gifted a run from a Central College error. They didn't stop there that inning.
Chloe Ferguson would single, scoring
Ellie Schisler, knotting things up. In the seventh, hoping to break the tie, the Jays would score the two game-winning runs from an
Amber Dierling RBI single and a
Karen Goodin bases-loaded walk. The Jays would hold on in the bottom half and get their inaugural win of the season, 4–2.
The Blue Jays' 1-3 performance this weekend was not up to their expectations, but there were plenty of bright spots. Sophomore Carlie Regier hit .571 with five RBIs, leading to a SLIAC player of the week award. They also had plenty of strong outings on the mound, with three starters pitching complete games. The Softball team's next game will be against UHSP in St. Louis on March 12 for a Thursday doubleheader.
