Simley Scores Three in the Seventh Inning to Drop Henry Sibley

Simley High School's softball team saved the best for last Thursday, scoring three runs in the top of the seventh to defeat Henry Sibley High School 4-1 in a match in Mendota Heights.

In a contest that bore little resemblence to the Spartans' first game against Henry Sibley this season (a 10-9 Simley win on April 18), both teams showed off improved pitching and defense. But neither managed much offense until the Spartans started connecting in the final inning.

Simley scored one run in the top of the second and Henry Sibley answered with a run in the third to tie the game at 1-all. That’s where the score still stood until the final inning.

Simley senior shortstop Brittney Willaert singled to left to open the seventh and pinch hitter Sarah Anderson safely bunted to put runners at first and second with no outs. Junior second baseman Maria Dillon then laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners. That set the stage for junior catcher Rachel Packer, who knocked in two runs with a double to left for a 3-1 Simley lead.

“I think it was an inside pitch and the coach kept telling me to close my front footing because I kept pulling it, so I did that, and then, sure enough, it just kind of worked,” Packer said.

Jordan Sheridan moved Packer to third on a sacrifice fly and Packer scored on a passed ball to make it a 4-1 lead.

“It feels pretty good to come back, again, and beat them,” said Packer. “It was really nice.”

Sibley didn’t go quietly in the bottom of the seventh. After a ground out to open the inning, Gabi Cerda hit a hard ball past Simley’s Jenny Willaert at third. Brianna Nussear hit into a fielder’s choice at third. But Sibley’s two base runners were left stranded after the Warriors hit a ground out to Willaert at third and a fly ball to center that Adrianna Guevara tracked down for the final out.

“[It was a] big win. We really battled,” said Simley head coach Kelly Darrow. “Our defense has tightened up. You know we’re pretty beat up and tired. We’ve played 12 games in 14 days and we have three games this weekend, so we’re tired.

“I was happy with our clutch hitting at the end,” said Darrow. “We had a couple of our juniors step up and hit the ball and especially the one who was gone yesterday (Packer). She was out sick and she came through today. And Celina Nehmer, since we went down to Austin, has really stepped up her game as a pitcher.

Nehmer, a Simley junior, went the distance and picked up the pitching win.

“I think we’ve really developed,” Nehmer said. “We’ve worked together on the field as a team and our hitting has really been alive for us this year. And my defense is doing a very good job behind me. I felt good today. My curve was working; [my ] screw[ball] was working. It felt good.”

Simley improved to 3-7 in the league and 5-8 overall.

Henry Sibley is 0-10 in the conference and 3-11 on the season.

Henry Sibley has scored just five runs in the last four games.

“I told them we’ve got to hit the ball better,” said Henry Sibley head coach Phil Stohr. “We’ve had two or three games where we’ve scored one run, two runs, one run. That’s not going to get it done in this league, it’s just not. We’ve got to hit better.”

Simley plays three games in the Becker Tournament on Saturday.