Jimmies softball hoping to start deep run against Arizona Christian

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. — The University of Jamestown softball team heads to Oregon to face off against Arizona Christian University at 1 p.m. Monday, May 10, in the first round of the 2025 NAIA Softball National Tournament.

“I’ve been here before and we’ve had some success and I want to keep building,” Jimmies head coach Kevin Gall said. “I think our expectations is to win it.”

The Jimmies head into the tournament with a 35-15 overall record, and they are on a three-game winning streak. If the Jimmies do beat the Firebirds, it will be their first win at the national tournament since May 15, 2018. Gall said while his team could play two bad games and have their season come to an end, he doesn't think they will.

“We certainly didn’t allow many runs in the conference,” Gall said. “So … we could say we’re playing our best ball right now. I think the NAIA podcast thinks we’re playing really good ball right now too. But you’re only as good as your next inning, I guess, you’re only as good as your next game. ... So we gotta be attuned to the idea that we’re gonna continue to play our best.”

While the Jimmies had six players recognized by the North Star Athletic Association year-end awards, Gall, who won conference Coach of The Year, said beating the Firebirds and going on a tournament run will take his entire team. Gall said his hitters and his pitchers will be need to consistent for them to win.

“It could be anybody,” Gall said talking about the impact his entire roster can make. “It’s just a matter of having the right approach and not doing too much. … That’s kind of the cool thing about our game, it can be anybody."

This season, the Jimmies have had a lot of success in neutral-site games, going 13-1 in them.

This campaign, the Firebirds have a 4.62 team ERA and they have given up double-digit runs in five games. The Jimmies have scored double digits in six games this season.

“We just gotta come out, have cool, quick at-bats and not try to do too much, stay short with our swings, and good things happen to us when we do that,” Gall said. “We can but up some numbers. The key thing, maybe a turning point in our season, was when we played Valley City that weekend (April 12-13) and had base runners 14, 15 straight innings. That was because we had a plan, we stuck with the plan, we weren’t getting caught up in home run mode, with that field, you can certainly get caught up in that. So I feel like we learned a good lesson then and we’ve been able to repeat it over and over again since that mid-April weekend.”

On the offensive side of the ball, the Firebirds have been kept in the yard with only eight home runs as a team in their 51 games played.

“That’s definitely a plus, I think,” Gall said. “We don’t have to worry about the three-run home run as much as we have against Dickinson or Valley City. Hopefully, we can position our girls in the right spot and put them in positions where they can make plays and I got confidence we’re gonna do that. The field positions look like we’re not gonna have any issues, nice looking field."

The Jimmies and Firebirds have played a total of three times with the Firebirds owning a 2-1 record. However, the most recent time the two squads played was this season on March 3, when the Jimmies won 13-5. Gall said some of the differences that he expects between this game and the one the teams played against each other in March was that the Firebirds have changed their positional alignment significantly and in the game, the Jimmies didn’t face off against their ace. Despite the changes, Gall said he is confident that if his team hits the ball and plays like they are capable of playing, they will be fine.

“They’re a little bit different team now, one of their pitchers that we didn’t see in March has stepped up and done a good job," he said. "They have a couple hitters that just look like they’re impossible to get out. So hopefully we can get rocking and start playing well right away on Monday.”

Since this is the Jimmies first trip to the national tournament in seven years, none of the players has experience at the tournament, which Gall said could potentially help them. He said one of the his team's keys will be to know his entire team does not have to play hero ball and feel like the entire game is on them as individuals.

“I think we’ll be fine,” Gall said. “The younger girls are kind of naive and they just think this is what happens and the older girls, at times some of the older girls try to do too much. So they’re the ones I worry about the most. … We just gotta keep reminding them, play smooth and be cool and do the things we do in BP in the batters box.”

Gall said his pregame message to his team will be very simple.

“Go 1-0,” Gall said. “We’re not gonna change anything, it’s let’s go out and limit the walks and try to earn a bunch of freebies by getting hit by pitch and hitting the ball hard for them to make errors. … That’s a big key, those little things matter at this point of the season, little things matter, that’ll be my message.”

Hello,
My name is Max O'Neill. I am a Sports Reporter at The Jamestown Sun. I am a native New Yorker, who graduated from Ithaca College in 2020 with a degree in Television-Radio.