Central softball tourney ride ends
Central College
PELLA — Another memorable NCAA Division III tournament ride came to an abrupt end for the Central College softball team as Linfield College (Ore.) rode the momentum of a mistake-filled seventh-inning rally to secure two super regional victories and one of eight berths in next week’s national tournament.
Linfield (37-13) struck for five seventh-inning runs after Friday’s opening game was resumed for a 9-6 win, followed by a 10-2, six-inning victory that sends the Wildcats to the finals at Salem, Va. May 21-26.
The teams faced an unusual dynamic with a 13-hour layoff in the midst of a fifth-inning Central rally. The Dutch had just tied the opener 4-4 Friday and had runners on second and third base with no outs when the game was halted due to lightning in the area, followed by rain. Returning to action with a 2-0 count, first baseman Kaitlyn Matzen (senior, Manly, Central Springs HS) brought home the go-ahead run with a shot into the hole at shortstop. But Linfield was able to get an out at third base and get out of the inning with no further damage.
Central scratched out what appeared to be an important cushion with an unearned run in the bottom of the sixth.
But trailing 6-4, Linfield’s Cheyenne Fletcher doubled a 3-2 pitch to left-center to start the seventh. It was the Wildcats’ only hit of the inning but they were able to combine that with three walks, two errors and a misplay for five runs and a 9-6 lead. The Dutch put two runners on in the bottom of the seventh but couldn’t recover.
“Give Linfield credit,” coach George Wares said. “We’re not going to blame anybody, we just made some uncharacteristic plays. That happens. We just couldn’t stop the bleeding.”
Wares said his club lost some of the momentum it was riding before the game was halted Friday.
“It’s easy to say now but I thought we would have won the game without the delay,” he said. “But even with the delay, we clearly had our chances.”
It was an uneven performance for both squads. Linfield committed three errors to Central’s two and both pitchers found the strike zone elusive. Central’s all-region hurler Mallory Schulenberg (senior, Kansas City, Mo., St. Pius X HS) issued a career-high nine walks and hit two batters. She limited Linfield to five hits and struck out four. Meanwhile Linfield ace Montana McNealy, who was named the super regional’s outstanding pitcher, walked six. She allowed eight hits and struck out seven.
Finding the energy to come back moments after a numbing defeat was a challenge.
“It was a tough loss and then when you have to come back from that it’s hard,” Wares said. “We did everything we could, but there’s an emotional drain and we just couldn’t find the energy to come back.”
And even though Central was playing at home, there was a physical toll as well, particularly for Schulenberg, who fired 478 pitches in five games in leading the Dutch to the Pella Regional title last weekend, then threw a season-high 173 pitches in the super regional opener. After the first two pitches of the second game Saturday were balls, Wares decided there was little left in the tank and brought in Trisha Smith (junior, New Hampton). But Linfield struck for three runs on two hits in the first inning and Wares had to turn to freshman pitcher Annie DeVries (Eldridge, North Scott HS) to close out the frame.
“I thought Annie was good,” Wares said. “She kept us in the game and gave us an opportunity.”
Linfield got a run off DeVries in the third but it was still 4-0 entering the fifth inning when Central staged one more comeback. The Dutch loaded the bases with one out and third baseman Whitney Sowers (senior, Marshalltown) forced in a run by drawing a school career record-breaking 93rd walk. It was her 39th free pass of the season, also a record. Matzen also drew an RBI walk and Central still had the bases loaded. But Linfield replaced Montana, who was also running on fumes, having thrown 146 pitches in the first game and 85 in game two. Reliever Brooke Chapman then notched back-to-back strikeouts to end the threat.
“We got it to 4-2 and we couldn’t ask for anything better than the kids we’d love to have up there in that situation,” Wares said. “We get a base hit there, we tie it or go ahead and who knows after that, but it just didn’t happen.”
Linfield took command, adding a run in the bottom of the fifth and loaded the bases on DeVries in the sixth on two walks and a bunt single. Wares turned to Schulenberg once more, but the Dutch could only record one more out before Linfield struck for five runs and the eight-run cushion needed to end the game an inning early.
Wares said in hindsight it wasn’t fair to bring Schulenberg in again after so many pitches.
“Watching her warm up, you could just tell her velocity was probably 5-6 miles per hour slower than usual,” he said.
Central made two errors in the game and was outhit 9-5. Right fielder Sarah Bowen (sophomore, New Sharon, North Mahaska HS) had two hits.
While the Dutch fervently hoped their season would end in Virginia rather than Pella, it was another remarkable run nonetheless with the program’s 27th NCAA tournament berth in 30 seasons, tournament titles in the Iowa Conference and NCAA regional, and a 26th 30-win campaign. It was not always evident that the Dutch would ultimately end their season so well, as one of the nation’s last 16 teams standing.
“There were injuries we had to deal with and we just weren’t playing very well early in the year,” Wares said. “But the way we came around is, again, a credit to the leadership of the players. Because of them, we were playing really well at the end of the season.”
Much of that leadership came from a school-record 10 seniors who made an outsized impact on the program and on the record book.
Second baseman Abbey Strajack (senior, Davenport, Assumption HS) shattered the career batting average mark (.410), followed closely by third baseman Whitney Sowers (senior, Marshalltown) (.390). Both were four-year starters. Strajack broke the school hits records for a season (76) and career (221), as well as the runs marks for a season (52 ) and career (151) and her season batting average of .475 was the third-highest ever. Sowers broke the career on-base percentage mark (.497) while designated player Karlee Rock (senior, Wheatland, Calamus-Wheatland HS) set the slugging percentage record for a season (.857) and career (.603). Sowers ranks third in season slugging percentage (.727) and just behind Rock for her career (.602). Sowers was also second in career stolen base percentage (.868, 33-38) while Rock smashed the season home runs record with 15, six above the previous mark. She ranks second in home runs for her career (23) with Sowers fifth (17). Rock also broke the season RBIs record (59) and is fourth for her career (122).
As a team, Central established season records for runs (321), doubles (73), home runs (35), walks (172), slugging percentage (.491) and on-base percentage (.427). The 2015 Dutch rank second in hits (410) and RBIs (273) and stand fourth in season batting average (.333).
Central was yet again dominant on the basepaths, holding a 103-22 advantage over opponents in stolen bases. It’s the 18th time the Dutch have topped the century mark and the first time since 2012.
In addition to Strajack, Sowers, Rock, Schulenberg and Matzen, Central graduates catcher/first baseman Katie Canney (Adel, ADM HS), catcher Dana Van Renterghem (Oskaloosa), outfielder/pinch-runner Shannon Coulson (Bondurant, Bondurant-Farrar HS), center fielder Paige Heesch (Titonka, WCLT HS) and outfielder Kallie Schive (Marshalltown).
Wares said he’ll remember more than the group’s records.
“I know it’s coaches’ talk but it’s true, every one of them contributed in different ways on and off the field,” he said. “The thing that’s most pleasing to me is that even in that last loss, they were competing to the very end, trying to make things happen to extend their season and get a chance to play again.
“They will always be special in our coaches’ hearts.”
The 10 got an emotional lift when, still in uniform, they crashed the college’s commencement ceremonies taking place in adjacent H.S. Kuyper Fieldhouse. When they reached the graduation stage, they received a sustained standing ovation and president Mark Putnam gathered them together for a photo.
The reception caught coach George Wares and the players by surprise.
“I was blown away,” Wares said.
Meanwhile, the quest for the top in 2016 begins.
“We’ll hope some of the new players come in and help right away and that some of the returning players step up,” said Wares, the nation’s winningest Division III coach. “We’re going to be different. We’ll probably have some growing pains with the youth we’ll put on the field. But we’ll back again and we’ll keep competing at a high level.”
