Central opens softball season with indoor sweep
ROCHESTER, MINN.—Riding some freshman arms, the No. 22-ranked Central College softball team launched its season indoors with a pair of six-inning victories late Saturday night, overwhelming the University of Wis.-Eau Claire 9-1 and Dominican University (Ill.) 8-0.
The opener was the 400th win in 13 seasons at Central for associate head coach Alicia O’Brien. She’s compiled an 824-361-3 career mark overall, piloting Western Connecticut State University to a 423-213-3 (.664) record in 18 seasons as head coach before joining the Central staff in 2006. The Dutch are 401-148 (.729) during her tenure.
Saturday’s games were played with some slightly modified ground rules in the Rochester Community and Technical College Dome.
With 30 NCAA Division III berths under NFCA Hall of Fame coach George Wares, the Dutch have a tournament-tested program but rarely have they opened with so little experience in the pitching circle. Central used three freshman pitchers before turning to a senior for a final inning and they aced their initial test.
Against Wis.-Eau Claire (0-1), pitcher Sydni Huisman (freshman, Treynor) weathered some early trouble in her collegiate debut, getting three strikeouts to strand the bases loaded in the first inning. She allowed a run on six hits over six innings, fanning nine and walking two.
Another rookie hurler, Skylar Sadler (freshman, Lisbon), started against Dominican (0-2) and tossed four scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and striking out one. She retired the final nine hitters she faced before being replaced by Morgan Schaben (freshman, Harlan), who inherited a 6-0 lead. Schaben gave up a leadoff walk but blanked Dominican in the fifth inning. Senior Lauren Shirley (Queen Creek, Ariz., Seton Catholic HS), who saw limited action a year ago, surrendered a double before closing out the sixth inning.
“They were solid,” coach George Wares said. “We got what we wanted out of this. They all threw well. Sydni was sharp. She got into a little trouble a couple of times but was able to get strikeouts when she needed them. Skylar to a lot of ground-ball outs. Morgan walked one but then bounced back. Overall I was happy with them.”
Wares vowed to juice the accelerator on the high-powered running game this year and the Dutch burst out of the starting blocks with seven stolen bases in the first two innings against Wis.-Eau Claire and 11 for the night. Center fielder Sara Tallman (senior, Pella) swiped two in the opener. She scored three times, getting the Dutch on the board in the season’s opening frame, drawing a leadoff walk, stealing two bases and racing home on an error. Tallman had two walks and a hit in the game. Freshman left fielder Emma Johnson (Davenport, Assumption HS) and third baseman Paige Roehlk (junior, Davenport, West HS) each had two steals as well.
“Our running game was really good,” Wares said.
Shortstop Daria Parchert (junior, Illinois City, Ill., Rockridge HS) had four RBIs on a pair of two-run singles and four RBIs and pinch-hitter Sarah Sponder (senior, Sioux City, East HS) also delivered a two-run hit in a five-run sixth inning. Roehlk and second baseman Kaitlyn Andresen (senior, Davenport, Assumption HS) also had run-scoring hits.
Against Dominican, Johnson knocked in the first run with a second-inning infield hit before Andresen broke it open with a three-run double in a four-run third inning. Tallman singled and scored in the fourth inning, adding her third steal of the night, giving her 98 for her career and second place on the school’s all-time charts, trailing only Daniela Grob’s 114 (1997-2000).
Pinch-hitter Maci Fritz (junior, Tama, South Tama HS) had an RBI hit in the sixth inning and right fielder Shaye Witte (senior, West Des Moines, Waukee HS) ended it with a run-scoring single.
Tallman was 3-for-3 with a sacrifice, scoring twice, while designated player Lauren Birt (sophomore, Ankeny, Centennial HS) had three hits and scored two runs. Witte had two hits.
Central makes its outdoor debut with the first of two major trips to the Sun Belt next weekend. The Dutch compete in the elite NFCA Division III Leadoff Classic in Tucson, Arizona next Friday through Sunday. The event features many of the top teams in the NCAA Division III. They’ll later head to Florida during spring break March 16-21.
“(Saturday night’s games) give us more of an idea about what we’ve got and what we need to do before we go to Arizona,” Wares said. “We would have found that out win or lose, but it’s nice to start with two wins.”
Friday at 3:30 p.m. (Central Time) Central meets Transylvania University (Ky.) before taking on No. 14-ranked DePauw University (Ind.) at 5:30 p.m. Saturday the Dutch tackle LeTourneau University(Texas) t 11 a.m. and Emerson College (Mass.) at 1 p.m. before meeting Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (Calif.) Sunday at 11 a.m. and the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (Texas) at 3 p.m. Audio webcasts of all six games will be provided through www.kniakrls.com and can be accessed directly at rdo.to/krls3, Veteran sportscaster Trevor Castle, the voice of the Dutch, will call the action.
