Central slips from softball top spot
PELLA—As quickly as the Central College softball team jumped on top of the American Rivers race, the No. 17-ranked Dutch lost their hold on first place, suffering a 6-2, 1-0 home sweep against Luther College Wednesday.
Luther fifth-year pitching ace Kendra Cooper had a dominant day, throwing 194 pitches to go the distance in both games. She improved to 19-3 and pushed the Norse (30-6 overall, 11-3 conference) into a first-place conference tie with Coe College heading into the regular season’s final day. Central (29-7 overall, 10-4 conference) swept Coe Saturday at Cedar Rapids, but now finds itself a game back in the standings. Coe closes at home against Buena Vista University Friday while Luther plays host to Simpson College in a Saturday doubleheader. Central travels to Dubuque for a 1 p.m. twinbill at Loras College Saturday.
“Cooper threw as well as anybody that’s thrown against us in a while,” coach George Wares said. “She threw almost 200 pitches on the day and she was really good.”
Luther took command early in the opener with a three-run second inning, adding a two-run home run in the third. Central scratched out a run in the fourth inning as first baseman Megan Stuhr (junior, Sigourney) had a two-out single and eventually scored on a double steal. But the squad’s biggest threat came in the sixth inning when, down 6-1, third baseman Franie Burnett (junior, Ankeny, Centennial HS) singled home a run. The Dutch loaded the bases, bringing the potential tying run to the plate, but could not inflict further damage.
Sydni Huisman (senior, Treynor) (14-4) gave up four earned runs on seven hits and three walks over 4.2 innings. Morgan Schaben (senior, Portsmouth, Harlan HS) threw 2.1 innings of one-hit relief with no walks and two strikeouts.
“I thought Morgan pitched well,” Wares said. “That’s good for her because she’s had some struggles, but I thought she came in and kind of kept us in the hunt. And to our players’ credit, they battled. It was 6-2 with (bases loaded) and one out. If you get a base hit there, you never know.”
Cooper struck out 11 and walked two, needing 114 pitches to cover seven innings. She was even sharper in game two with a three-hit shutout, walking a batter and fanning three. Cooper’s performance was nearly matched by Central freshman Emma Beck (Holland, Grundy Center HS) but a couple of defensive missteps allowed Luther to scratch out an unearned run in the sixth inning. Central put two runners aboard in the seventh but came up empty.
“I thought we were really tentative,” Wares said. “Some players played afraid and we’ve got to get through that. And we’ve got to help them with that, obviously.”
Yet the team showed some spark in the final frame.
“I really liked our battle in the seventh,” Wares said. “We had the right people up there.”
Beck (10-1) scattered five hits and two walks—one intentional—and struck out three in seven innings in suffering her first loss.
“Emma threw well,” Wares said. “We just didn’t do enough things you need to do to win high-level softball games. Today, Luther did. Now the answer is, how do we respond at Loras?”
The Duhawks (20-13 overall, 8-6 conference) swept a doubleheader with the University of Dubuque Wednesday, winning 3-2 and 8-4, clinching a spot in the six-team conference tournament May 12-13.
“We’ve just got to go win every game we can the rest of the way,” Wares said. “We’re still in good shape for (an NCAA Division III tournament berth), but you want to feel good going in. These are the kind of games you’re going to have to win if you’re going to do something. We’ve won some of those.”
