Belpre’s Lauryn Simmons bound for OVU to play softball
BELPRE — A softball standout for Belpre High School, third baseman Lauryn Simmons is headed to play the sport in college for nearby Ohio Valley University in Vienna.
Why Simmons chose OVU was because she “felt very comfortable going there and practicing with the team; the girls are so much fun. It’s the kind of environment I want to be around.
“And yes, I wanted to be closer to home; I’m family-oriented and just wanted to be close to all of them,” headed by her dad Jimmy and mom Bobbi.
With OVU’s third baseman leaving after this season, Simmons hopes for the best at replacing her. “So it would be awesome if I could start in her place,” she said. “I’m going to do whatever it takes to get it. But we’ll see how it goes; I can play anywhere except for pitcher and first base, because those aren’t my strongest areas. But other than that, I played everything else in high school. So if they need me anywhere, I’ll play there.”
Other colleges Simmons considered were Ohio Dominican, Rio Grande and University of Charleston, but for me, “OVU was it,” she said.
“When I went there and toured around, it was just amazing. I felt comfortable, coach Rob (Graham) is just an awesome coach, the girls are amazing and they have my major (accounting), so that’s why I went with OVU.
“My mom’s an accountant, so I’m following in her footsteps.”
A 4.0 student at Belpre, Simmons said her four high school years “have been fun. I’m going to miss it so much, but I don’t even know how to describe my experience here at Belpre High School. The coaches and my friends have just been amazing, and with me every step of the way.”
Simmons also pointed out that lately “it’s been really hard since I lost my friend, Britteny Shaffer, in a car accident, but I’m going to do the season for her and play for her.”
Simmons’ only other sport at BHS was volleyball her freshman through junior years, but she didn’t play this past winter. “I just took time off to really focus on myself,” she said, “and I went and did camps for softball during that time, just trying to better my softball playing.”
When asked about what she had to do to get better at the next level, Simmons thought for a second, then said, “5 a.m. practices, because it’s going to be hard for me to wake up that early. But I think I can manage; with just a lot of hard work and determination, I think I could get there .”
In addition, Simmons has “a couple friends on the team, Alyssa Gates and Kelsey Goots (both from PHS),” she said. “So knowing that I had friends there was very beneficial in that I will have someone to talk to when I’m there.”
Simmons’ head softball coach at Belpre, Stephanie Evans, said that “with Lauryn’s love of the game and you combine that with her work ethic, her natural skill and ability, her passion for softball, she’s such a versatile player that she could be an asset anywhere.”
A regular at third base for Belpre ever since her sophomore year, Simmons started out as a freshman being a utility player, “filling in at a number of positions,” said Evans. “But ever since then, she found third base as her home.
“I look for Lauryn to be a great fit for OVU. I think she’ll fit right in and not even miss a beat when she gets there. They’re very lucky to have her.”
Evans related that “Lauryn’s known for a while that she wanted to play (softball) at the college level. She came to me with a list of her top 10 schools and we started exploring them from there. She had it narrowed down to about three to start the year, and then the more time she spent at OVU with the team getting to know the coach and the players, that was her best fit.
“And as her coach, I can’t be any more prouder of her than I am. She deserves this.”