Bethel University's Kayla Simacek leads NCAA D-3 softball in strikeouts

ARDEN HILL, Minn. – It's Kayla Simacek's show at the Bethel University softball field.

"Kayla was a workhorse last year. She wants the ball in her hands. I mean, last year at regionals, whenever she had pitched 15 innings she was like, 'Let's go again!'" said Coach Penny Foore.

An endurance athlete with high-powered stuff, the starting pitcher from Hastings has the most strikeouts in all of D-3 softball so far this season.

"It's wild. Some days I get a little bit curious and I'll check the statistics. And I'm just shocked every day to know that I'm still up there," Simacek said.

Her catcher, Courtney Hokenson, is a key piece of Simacek's success. When they need a strikeout, she calls for the riseball.

"She just gets me, and she gets the game so well. Having these four years with her has been amazing," Hokenson said.

Bethel made a run into the NCAA super regionals last season. Eight of 10 starters returned. Boredom in the field is an accepted fate when Simacek's pitching.

"Every once in a while they talk about how they're tired, or like, 'Come on, gimme something.' I say, 'Sorry guys. I'm just doing what I do,'" Simacek said.

"On the mound she might seem like super serious and like super in the zone, and she is. But then off the field she has like such a goofy kind of side to her," Hokenson said.

Simacek's career high is 18 strikeouts in a game. This year, she's hit 16. She's in a zone that you don't want to be on the opposite end of.

"Oh it's so fun. It's all a game in the game for me. Just get to mess around," Simacek said. "Everybody on the field's got my back, so I really just get to play a lot more loose. And I know when it starts going, it's gonna go."