diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 051cd18ddf3c51011e9641d925c64cdfbe2b20a0..f6101bf15b57f30d976718da4a91945e1ffde8af 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -200,6 +200,16 @@ deploy_results:
   script:
     - echo "deploy results!"
 
+crystal_pion_simulation:
+  stage: simulate
+  needs:
+    - ["get_data"]
+  tag:
+    - sodium
+  script:
+    - cp topside/topside.xml ./.
+    - bash calorimeters/run_simulation_crystal_pion.sh
+
       #  artifacts:
       #    paths:
       #      - datasets
diff --git a/calorimeters/run_simulation_crystal_pion.sh b/calorimeters/run_simulation_crystal_pion.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..0d4934ac67366fef120586185182bbbdfe7c1e38
--- /dev/null
+++ b/calorimeters/run_simulation_crystal_pion.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+npsim --runType batch --numberOfEvents 10000 \
+      --compactFile ./calorimeters/topside.xml \
+      --inputFiles  ./data/emcal_pions_upto1GeV_10kevents.hepmc \
+      --outputFile  ./sim_output/sim_crystal_pion_input.root